Decisions Decisions
by SomewhereInWonderland
Summary: Not connected to my other stories After finding out that Steph was pregnant with his kid- Ranger decided to stop their relationship. After working at the Miami office for the last 14 months he moves back to Trenton. But what will happen now with Ranger and Steph's relationship- especially after Steph spends the night with someone else... Who will she choose, Not a CC HEA
1. Chapter 1

**OoooOoooOoooOoooO**

My name's Stephanie Plum; 32, single, decent body, smaller than I'd prefer chest and killer blue eyes. Oh and I'm also a walking disaster; I have blown up more cars and had my apartment firebombed more times than I could remember. Although, I knew there were people keeping track and putting money on how long before my next major disaster took place. At least that was the way it used to be during my bounty hunting days; I had unfortunately been fired from that gig. Well, I suppose it was more of a threat that if I wasn't fired severe punishment would be afflicted upon my weasel of a cousin, Vinnie. I was sure I wasn't supposed to know about the fact that Vinnie was forced to fire me; but I refused to accept his lame excuses for firing me. Sure I wasn't the best bounty hunter ever- but Lord knows I wasn't the worst! Besides, we were family so I threatened to blackmail him if he didn't tell me what the _real _reason was for being fired. There was only one word of explaining I needed: Ranger.

Ranger was also a bounty hunter for Vinnie, but only brought in the top-dollar FTA's. On a regular basis though he was the CEO of RangeMan security and dealt with a lot more dangerous things on daily basis than a simple FTA. Ranger had actually been my mentor when I started doing the whole bounty hunter thing; and over time also became my lover. Things became pretty hot and heavy after things ended ((for good)) with Joe Morelli. And for a while; everything was perfect. I was able to be independent and do what I pleased; I was chasing down skips and actually managed _not_ to end up rolling in trash every day of the week (just a couple of them). Not only that I was free to have guilt-free amazing sex with Ranger and for a little while it was like we were in a relationship. It was perfect- but suddenly everything changed.

About a dozen pregnancy tests told me that I was going to be a mom; and that Ranger was going to be a dad. Telling him was just about the most terrifying moment forever, but I was convinced that things would be okay. I didn't want a marriage proposal or even a huge commitment; I just wanted to know he was going to be there. Boy was _I wrong_! Okay- that's not fair he was there—financially. But after I told him after about a two week period of not hearing from him; he finally made an appearance. As difficult as it was to give him time to think and digest the information, I figured once he came back everything was going to be okay. Until he told me that it was best for us to end whatever relationship we did have and just arrange a way for us to co-parent.

After listening to his entire spiel I realized—I was nothing more than Rachel and Julie were to him. Me and my unborn growing baby were always going to have financial security (like I cared about the money) and would always have some sort of protection. But he wasn't going to give me the one thing I really wanted: him. It was then that he told me I needed to quit chasing after skips, especially while I was pregnant. Now I was no dummy—I knew all too well that chasing after skips during my pregnancy was going to be put on hold. Risking my own life on a daily basis was nothing new for me; but it wasn't just me anymore. But having someone _tell_ me what to do was pretty much guaranteeing I would do just the opposite.

A week later Vinnie told me I was fired; and no one other than Ranger and me knew about my pregnancy. So I demanded a reason; that was when Vinnie let it slip out that Ranger had threatened to cause him severe pain if I wasn't fired. Needless to say I was furious and my anger helped me realize that Ranger and I were now simply going to only talk when it came to our child. Thankfully, I found a job at a nice restaurant that at first I was bummed to always work the night shift as a waitress. That was when I realized that was prime time for the high rollers to spend big and better yet- _tip big_.

I am many things—and nosy is definitely one of them; but it also made me very personable and liked as a waitress. After a while many started requesting a table in my area and the bigger my stomach grew; the more tips I got. Money was good and I even found a two bedroom apartment that had never been firebombed and none of the previous people that might have any need to retaliate; knew where I was living. By the time I hit my third trimester a large sum of money began appearing into my account and I knew there was only one way it arrived. When I confronted Ranger he simply said it was child support; I tried to remind him that there is no child yet to support. But of course that didn't stop him from putting it in there every month, and since I was making decent money at the restaurant and from tips I began putting the money in a savings account for Baby Plum/Manoso. Now, I'm sure Julie was receiving quite a bit of money from her dad every month; but something told me it wasn't as much as what we received. Part of that I believed was because Ranger was also supporting me; but what did I know!

Suddenly though Ranger started taking more out-of-state jobs and visiting other offices more than usual. When I went into labor I called and told him, but asked him not to come to the hospital. I knew it was going to be an emotional time and the last thing I wanted was to fall in love with the image of Ranger, me and our baby together- only to have it change when we left the hospital. So after forgoing knowing the sex of my child throughout the pregnancy so after 18 hours of labor I gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl I had ever seen. I named her Estella Abigail Plum, and I immediately knew I was in love.

As time progressed my Stella became even more adorable and was easily the most important person to a lot of people. Even with Ranger gone all of the Merry Men loved Stella and still took great care of me. During my pregnancy there was also an unexpected friendship that formed between Ranger's sister Celia and myself. She had introduced me to the rest of the family and they were all so great to Stella and me; but Celia had quickly became one of my best friends. And I was especially thankful for this when Ranger was in town and asked to see Stella. Sure we talked over email mostly, on rare occasions we'd talk over the phone but I hadn't seen him since my pregnancy. Celia could sense that I wasn't ready for a face-to-face to Ranger; so we had it set up where Ranger would visit with his daughter, at his sister's house.

Stella was 14 months old now and I couldn't help but smile as I watched her eat the cheerios on the tray in front of her. She was so beautiful which I suppose wasn't really a surprise; her father was the most attractive man I have ever seen. Stella had his skin tone and black hair, with my curls and bright blue eyes and she had easily inherited Ranger's 200-watt smile.

"Moma, ba ba!" Stella called out to me and I gave her, her sippy cup filled with milk. Her bright smile lit up as she reached out with excitement for the milk. I sat down at the kitchen table and ate my Boston Crème donut that was leftover from my visit to Tasty Pastry yesterday. There was a knock at the front door and my eyes darted to the clock above the stove—it was only 8:30 and visitors at this hour was usually non-existent.

"Be right back, Stella Bee."

When I reached the front door I peeked through the eyehole on the door I saw a large grin morphed by the tiny hole I was peering through. But the big emerald green eyes made me smile; this was a visitor I was always happy to have around at this hour. I pulled the door open and Lester Santos' smile only got wider as he pulled me in for a big hug.

"Morning Beautiful, where's my little cutie?"

"Eating breakfast, what are you doing here?" He was already headed into the kitchen to go see his favorite cousin, I knew he had reached her when she started yelling _"Es, Es!"_

Lester was leaning over her high chair tray and Stella placed a cheerio into his mouth. He smiled and gave her a kiss on the top of her head before turning back to me.

"So, I got a little news for you."

"Okay, what kind of news?" Les paused to accept another cheerio from a squawking Stella.

"About Ranger." I could feel the beat of my heart pause momentarily as the thought of all that could go wrong with him hit me.

"Is he alright?"

"Oh yeah, it's nothing like that." Stella was still squawking for him; but this time her arms indicated she wanted nothing more than him to hold her. And if there was one woman on this entire planet Lester Santos couldn't say no to—it was my Stella. He pulled her out of her high chair, tossing her in the air causing a fit of giggles to escape the both of them. Whenever him and the rest of the guys at RangeMan did this it always gave me a mini heart attack, but of course they always caught her without trouble. Les grabbed her sippy cup off the tray and walked over to my couch and sat cuddling her onto his lap.

"Then what is it, Les?" His eyes met mine and I was sure he was trying to relay whatever message to me through telepathy—but that was a skill I still hadn't picked up on. "Santos—you can't leave me hanging."

"Well you know he's been at the Miami office for a while now?" I nodded my head and stood with my arms crossed, waiting for him to continue. "It looks like business there has slowed; while it has really picked up here. So he's moving back and he'll be here on Monday." My jaw dropped as I stared at him and then I immediately began pacing back and forth in front of the couch.

"Say something, Beautiful." I glanced at the clock- I had been pacing back and forth now for a full five minutes. Which definitely wasn't my record; whenever it came to news about Ranger I frequently spent that time pacing since I had no other idea what to do.

"It's Friday, Les—there is no way you're talking about this upcoming, Monday."

"I am actually." I shook my head—okay, I needed another donut.

"Why is this the first I'm hearing about it?"

Les just shrugged his shoulders apologetically. "It wasn't a for sure thing until a couple hours ago; and I didn't want to get you worked up if it didn't end up happening." My legs couldn't handle the constant pacing anymore so I sank down on the couch next to Les and he wasted no time pulling me into his side.

"It'll be okay, you know that right?"

"I don't know Les, I haven't seen him since I was pregnant. Celia and I had this whole thing worked out so when Ranger was in town he could see Stella. But that was I didn't have to see him."

"You don't want to see him?" Lester asked, his emerald eyes stared at me telling me he knew better than to believe that.

"Well, I don't know—I was always able to avoid him before. I'm assuming with him living here and the little fact that I am the mother of his child—doesn't tell me that I'm going to be able to keep up the avoiding charade."

"It won't be so bad, Steph, and I promise you don't have to see him until you're ready." I heard what he said, but my mind was elsewhere trying to work this information out in my head.

"You know, I shouldn't worry. I mean it's not like I'm the first woman he's had to deal with when a child was involved. Ranger and Rachel have a very good relationship with no tension and she is nothing more than his kid's mother."

"Beautiful?"

"Yeah?"

"You're not Rachel."

"You're right, I'm sure especially with him living in Miami he's been able to see Julie more. Plus, I'm sure Rachel and his relationship has grown as parents." Les let out a single laugh and rubbed his hand over the top of my head, messing up my hair.

"That's not exactly what I meant."

"Well what then?"

Lester shot me a dubious look; waiting for me to admit that I did actually know what he was saying. "Ranger was never in love with Rachel; he's just a responsible man and not about to leave his child with nothing."

"Well, he still gives child support to me every month for Stella Bee."

Lester just laughed and stood up; throwing a restless Stella in the air again. "You're impossible! Now, I was supposed to ask what you plan to do with Stella while you're at work today."

Since Stella was quickly the most popular child in all of Trenton there were so many people that wanted to take her while I was at work. Originally I had her enrolled in daycare full time—but she was never there that much and I ended up paying way more than I wanted to for it. So I dropped it down to part time but other times Stella was with my parents, Mary Lou, Celia, Ranger's other sisters, Ella and many many more. There were days I was being woken up at 7 in the morning with requests to watch Stella Bee while I was at work. I told Stella that I was going to make her start waking up and field the many phone calls of people dying for her attention. Of course since she didn't really know what I said but used a funny voice she still cracked up laughing.

"No idea yet; I don't work until noon and I'm off at 9."

"Ella wants to know if she could watch Stella today; I guess Ranger put in a request to have his penthouse baby proofed and Ella figures it'd be nice to have Stella there to help her out."

"Why does he want it baby-proofed?"

"I'm assuming for the baby, Steph." He said with a smile.

"Well, duh—but I mean he hasn't even told me he's coming back yet. Now he's having his apartment on 7 set up for her?"

"I'm sure he'll tell you, and I'm sure you guys will talk. You know Ranger though, he likes to be over prepared for everything."

_Hmph, do I really know Ranger anymore? The man used to be my best friend, among other things, and I used to know him very well. Well—atleast as well as he let me, but now everything was different. It had been about a year and half since I last saw him, we were nothing more than Stella's parents now and other than our emails—we never talked. _

"Yeah, I guess she can go spend the day with Ella."

"Yay!" Les said swinging Stella's arms around like a little cheerleader. "If you go get her ready I will just take her back with me to RangeMan. Give you a little time to stress out and pace a little bit more." He winked at me.

"Ha ha." I muttered out before going into Stella's room to prepare her stuff for her day with the boys. Because even though I'm sure Ella really did want to spend time with Stella, the truth was the Merry Men spent most of the day with her. Ella always had every intention to watch Stella all day, but periodically the guys would go and take Stella around RangeMan for fun. Once I walked in to pick up Stella and froze in my spot when I saw her sitting on Tank's desk and her giggling at his game of peek-a-boo. It melted my heart to see how important my baby girl was to them; and I was sure it had nothing to do with her being Ranger's daughter.

"Hey Les, do you have your car seat for her?" I yelled out from Stella's room, and I could practically hear Lester's eyes rolling at my question.

"Do you really have to ask?"

"I guess not."

One day the guys' surprised me with their own car seat for Stella; top of the line, and black of course. I tried to pay back whoever it was that had dished out the money I could only imagine they had spent on that thing. They of course refused and told me the car seat was paid for out of company funds because it was a justifiable expense. And truthfully, I was quite jealous of Stella's car seat—it was like the Lay-z-boy of car seats; and she absolutely loved it.

I packed up Stella and said goodbye to them both before they left. Once they were gone I waited about 2.5 seconds before called Celia.

"What's up, darling?" Her too-casual demeanor told me she didn't know anything about her brother's moving plans.

"Your brother is moving back on Monday."

"You're shitting me!"

"Nope, Les just left here and told me the news. Apparently they just made the decision earlier this morning."

"Damn girl, I don't even know what to say—other than it's going to be a lot harder to avoid seeing him now." I dropped my face into my hands and let out a large sigh.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing."

"Well do you work this weekend?"

"Nope, I worked last weekend so I have this one off."

"Let me take Stella tomorrow night for you. You go out and have fun, blow off some steam—have a few drinks. Just take the time to de-stress."

"Are you sure, Celia?"  
"Hell yeah- I'm not working this weekend and I would love to spend more time with my niece before my brother comes home and monopolizes all her time." I couldn't help but laugh, and admit it was a nice thought that Ranger would want to see her that much.

"Okay, well- if you're sure."

"I'm sure."

"All right, well I'll call you tomorrow afternoon and we can work out a time for you to bring her over."

"Okay sounds good, love you Celia!"

"Love you too girl, and don't pace so much. You're gonna create an indent in that nice wood floor of yours." I couldn't help but laugh as I realized I had been pacing—and just how well she knew me.

I quickly thought about what it was I wanted to do tomorrow night and knew there was only one thing I wanted to do. So I created a text message on my phone and began typing away.

**Celia's watching Stella Bee tomorrow- you and the boys better not be picking up any skips. I want to go to the bar and enjoy a few drinks with my boys!**

A minute later Lester responded to my text.

**You're on, Beautiful!**

**Author's Note: **Hope you enjoyed! Anyways, just a heads up- I do know that Ranger has 5 sisters and one brother. I know Celia is one of them, as for the others- they will be in the story later but I am not sure of their names. If there are specific names for the rest of his family- feel free to let me know, otherwise I'll just give them names as I come to them in the story. 


	2. Chapter 2

**OoooOoooOoooOoooO**

Friday night at the restaurant was thankfully so crazy busy that I had no free time to think about Ranger's return in just a couple days. After my shift was over (and my wonderful tips were securely in my wallet) I checked my messages and one was from Lester telling me just to head home after work. When I got there Lester was already there watching TV and Stella Bee was sound asleep in his lap.

"I was going to put her in her crib; but I figured you'd want to see her first."

"That I do!" I pulled my sleeping baby into my lap and ran my fingers through her curls as soft sleeping noises escaped her little mouth. We talked about game plan for tomorrow night and it turned out most of the guys were going to be able to make it. Which was a complete relief because as much as I wouldn't admit this to Lester—I was worried that things between us would change upon Ranger's return. I wasn't sure how much time he thought Stella spent with them; or how much time he _wanted_ her to spend with them. As much as I did believe Ranger to love his daughter; the guys were still trained for security and other things, but babysitting was not one of them. Lester took off once I laid Stella in her crib and I took my laptop in to bed with me. After a good twenty minutes of sitting at the desktop wallpaper of Stella and me at the pumpkin patch, I finally worked up the courage to check my email. Amongst the various spam email sitting in my inbox was also one from Ranger with the subject simply reading: **Babe**.

**Babe,**

** I'm sure you've heard by now that business will be moving me back to the Trenton area this upcoming Monday. I will be arriving early in the morning and will be in meetings and such all day. However, I know we have a lot to discuss about Estella and other things so I'd like you two to join me for dinner Monday night. I'm sure Ella would be happy to pretty a meal for us, unless of course you would rather go out somewhere. Please let me know your thoughts.**

Even in his emails he didn't say goodbye. One thing I grew to learn- for a man that usually just said one word sentences, his emails were much longer. Most of the time though it was just about Stella, or to confirm plans for him to meet up with Stella at his sister's house at a certain time. This was a dinner invitation to not only talk about our daughter _and other things_, but to see him. Not that I expected we would be able to co-parent in the same city without ever seeing each other. But this was so much more than that and the thing that hurt the most was not knowing how he felt. Was he just as nervous/anxious/excited to see me; or had I really turned into just another Rachel to him? I suppose there is only one way to find out—

**Ranger,**

** We will meet you Monday night and Ella's cooking sounds great. Just let me know what time we should be there.**

**-Steph**

I rolled my eyes at how formal the email was; but formality right now was better than being my goofy-forward-self. At least for the time being, and with the message sent confirmation, I closed up my laptop and went to bed.

**OoooOoooOoooOoooO**

I dropped off Stella with Celia at 5 and went home to get ready to meet the boys at 8. While I was aware they saw me all the time, especially at my worst and covered in garbage. I still wanted to go out looking good, Celia adamantly told me I needed to have a few drinks and have a fun time. And I could think of no better way to start my night than to get all done up; from the extra eyeshadow and mascara. Then the extra time spent to make my curls look shiny and perfect; I even took the time to give myself French tips on my nails. Then came the outfit, we had reached the end of summer but it was definitely still warm enough out to wear my white shorts that always made the song "Who wears short shorts" play on repeat in my head. Then for a top I pulled out a black silky tank top that had thick straps and was very form fitting, with a deep cut in the middle that if it wasn't for the silver ring sitting between my chest- I'd be giving everyone a free show. I was going to tone it down a little with my shoes but my black FMPs looked so sad and lonely sitting in my closet. And I swear they were laying on the guilt trip by telling me I hadn't worn them in _so_ long. So I slipped them on and checked out my reflection in the mirror and was distracted by the sound of a wolf whistle and I turned to see Lester leaning against the doorjamb. Les was definitely dressed to impress in his dark jeans, bright silver belt buckle and black T-shirt that was stretched amazingly over his perfect muscles.

"Do I look alright?" I asked him, spinning in a circle so he could see every angle. When he shook his head I shot my eyes back to the mirror to figure out what about me didn't look good. Lester walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around me and pulled my back flat against his chest.

"You are stunning, Steph." He whispered in my ear and placed a soft kiss at the nape of my neck making me smile and giggle at the tickle his lips caused.

"You look pretty damn good too, Santos."

"Ready to go?" He asked, extending his arm to me.

By the time we showed up at the bar Cal, Ram, Bobby, Hal, and Binkie were already there. All of them took their turns hugging and admiring me; I had to admit the attention felt damn good. I noticed the guys here was a majority of the guys that kept RangeMan going but when I asked Lester about it he assured me they had plenty of people on tonight. The guys ordered us a round of shots which was chased with a beer and after the warmness of liquor was making its way through my body- all I wanted was to hit the dance floor. The guys were all involved in an indepth conversation that I paid no attention to, but Lester saw me eyeing the dance floor and pulled me out without hesitation. It wasn't until I was dancing that I noticed how much I was already feeling the liquor and I was only 2 shots and 2 beers in. We were dancing dangerously close and even though I saw about a dozen girls stare at Lester hoping for a chance with them; I wasn't about to share tonight. Normally I wouldn't want to keep Les from his playboy lifestyle, but he didn't seem to notice them either.

I pulled him back though to take more shots and drink more. The guys had ordered a pitcher and there was already a couple shots waiting for us to take together. We said a cheers and slammed them back; the liquor was making me brave and flirtatious- not always the best combination. I noticed Hal was wearing a black ball cap so I took it off his head and placed it on mine. Les pulled it off my head and placed a kiss on my nose before putting it back down at an angle. After a few more shots I was back on the dance floor with a couple of the guys all of which I coerced onto the floor. But as soon as they were on the floor the women quickly became interested in the newly added sexy muscular men. All but Les found themselves dancing with another girl; I didn't know if it was me or Lester that wouldn't let the other stop dancing- but we were on the floor none-the-less. Our arms were tangled together one minute, and the next I was running my hands over his washboard abs and chest. While his hands explored the bare skin below my short shorts and when our bodies began to rub together I quickly moved back to the table. My vision was blurring and my decision making skills were definitely lacking, but there was only one thing on my drunken mind and that was getting Lester in my bed. I pressed up against Bobby who was standing by the table still and I leaned into his ear.

"I need to go home, quickly." I slurred out and Bobby smiled and nodded to me.

"Want me to drive you?" He asked and I wasn't sure how many drinks he had so far- but I wasn't about to figure it out on the drive home.

"No- I'm gonna call a cab! You guys stay, but I need to go." I yelled into his ear, concern flashed across his face as he leaned down to speak into my ear without yelling.

"Are you okay, bomber?"

"I am better than okay, and I need to keep it that way." He laughed and I hoped it wasn't because he was reading my true intentions. My body was aching for something I haven't had in a couple years; and I didn't want to _want_ it now. Before I could step away to call a cab I could feel a strong arm lace around my waist and pull me into him. I looked and saw Lester smiling down at me, and for the briefest moment it looked like he was shooting a murderous glare at Bobby. I suppose I am only just imagining things though.

"Everything okay?" Les asked as he pressed his lips against my ear to talk. I felt a shiver of electricity run up and down my spine. I turned around as he kept his arm still around my waist and I stood up to reach his ear.

"I'm heading out."

"Well I can drive you home, I brought you here."

I shook my head back and forth, I knew exactly how much Les had drank. And while I'm sure our tolerance levels were very different- we had the same amount to drink. And the way I was feeling made me sure enough I didn't want him getting behind the wheel of a car.

"Absolutely not- you've been drinking and no way are you driving me home drunk."

His face pulled down into a frown before he spoke again. "Beautiful, you know I would never _ever_ let anything happen to you."

"I'm taking a cab, and if you are going to be tempted to drive your car home later you better take the cab with me." His frown quickly turned into a slow sexy smile, and a little voice at the back of my mind started screaming at me. _Don't get in the cab with Lester—you know what's going to happen!_ But my drunken devil sitting on my shoulder quickly brushed that thought aside when Lester told me he was going to call up the cab now. He walked away to a quieter spot pulling his phone out of his pocket. I spotted Hal at the bar and walked over to him.

"I'm leaving- want your hat back?"

"Keep it- looks much better on you." He gave me a smile but I saw the same concern flash across his eyes. "You're not letting any of those guys drive you right?"

"Cab." I said back and he smiled, looking extremely relived. I had a feeling now that Tank sent them all out as a mission to keep me safe as well as have fun. I was a disaster sober- and when I was determined to get drunk I was sure they were expecting a national emergency to occur around me.

"Ready to go?" Lester asked into my ear and I gave Hal a kiss on the cheek before walking out to the cab with Les. The cab driver was oblivious to us, and part of me wondered if Lester had threatened him to keep his eyes firmly on the road while taking us to my place.

"You look really good in a hat." Lester said as he flicked the brim of the hat.

"I bet you'd look good in a hat too." I felt the words come out as I thought them, assuring me whatever inner thought sensor I had was completely gone. A too-sexy-to-be-legal smile spread over his face.

"Oh I do." I took the hat off my head and put it on his head with the brim facing backwards.

"You sure do." He moved in close to me and ran his nose the length of my neck; my toes were already curling under at the simple contact.

"You smell so good, Beautiful."

"I probably smell like sweat." I said with a laugh.

"Best sweat I've ever smelt."

"I wonder if it would taste as good as it smelt." The second I said it I knew I had made a really big mistake. Well my sober-self would think it was a big mistake. The next thing I felt was Lester's soft warm lips kissing slowly up the length of my neck, a moan escaped my lips. Lester groaned and put his free hand on the small of my back moving me closer to him. His lips slowly moved back down my lip over my shoulder and I could feel my blood igniting at the feeling. Next thing I knew my lips were at his neck kissing slowly and then tracing the length of his neck with my tongue before nipping softly on his earlobe. Lester pulled away and his emerald green eyes had suddenly darkened with the same arousal that had taken over my body. The cab pulled up on the outside of my apartment and Lester flipped him a wad of cash without taking his eyes off mine. I backed out of the cab and was quickly followed by Lester who scooped me up into his arms and carried me up the steps to my apartment door. My lips were craving the taste of his delicious skin once again so I reached up to work around his neck once again.

When we reached my front door he set me down in front of him pinning me between him and the door. He was unlocking the door with one hand but his lips hesitantly approached mine, and I knew this was his way to give me an out if I wasn't sure. Because we both knew the second we were in that apartment- there was no way things were going to remain PG for long. My lips leaned in the rest of the way meeting his; the kiss started slow but suddenly became desperate. Just as I heard the lock click open I sucked on his bottom lip and let my teeth pull on the juiciness of them. A quiet moan escaped and he quickly moved us into the apartment. The second we were inside and the door was closed and locked Lester lifted me up and wrapped my legs around him as he walked to my bedroom. Once there we began stripping each other of the pesky clothing that was in the way of what we both were craving.

Our breathing was deep with desire and it made Lester's voice husky, and sexy as hell as he spoke. "Leave the heels on, Beautiful." I smiled at him and kissed him deeply.

"Only if you leave the hat on—because you do look good in hats." He returned the smile and minus the requested clothing we were naked on the bed with Lester skillfully balanced above me. The arousal that was in his eyes had disappeared as he stared deeply into mine.

"Are you sure about this, Stephanie? We can stop if you want to." I smiled to him and rubbed my fingers along the side of his face. Even when we were both drunk he was still making sure I was okay; and although my sober-self kept reminding me there would be consequences later. All I could think of was the aching pain in my doo-dah and how badly I wanted Lester to make that pain go away.

"I'm sure Les, and if you stop— I will break your arm." I answered with a smile, making him smile back as he pressed his lips against mine. Then the ache was replaced with the amazing feeling of Lester; and I couldn't tell which of us had moaned louder. But one thing I did know was I was in for a much-needed-amazing-orgasm.

**Author's Note:** Hope that wasn't too much for you guys! Please review! : )


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: JE's characters—my version.**

**OoooOoooOoooOoooO**

The incessant ringing that I originally thought was just in my head; turned out to be coming from a cell phone. My eyes remained shut but the pounding in my head was already starting; I reached over to grab the phone on my side table. I let my hand search for it but the feeling of a warm body next to me maybe my eyes shoot open. Lester was asleep next to me but was waking up with the brush of my hand. His eyelids slowly opened as he reached over to grab his phone.

"Yeah?... Shit, really?... Fine, no I'll be there… 20 minutes… okay." Les shut his phone and sat up rubbing his hands against his eyes. It wasn't hard to realize as the sheet pulled up with him that he was completely naked. During my mini panic attack he looked over to me and smiled.

"Morning Beautiful, sorry about the phone call."

"That's okay." I said keeping the sheet pulled up around my neck.

"I need to go in to work, do you mind if I use your shower?"

I shook my head. "You don't have a car here." His car was still at the bar where I got completely wasted and ended up taking a cab home—with Lester. And now here we are in my bed, and judging by the drafts in unexpected places—we were both naked.

"That was Bobby, he's going to be here in 20 minutes to pick me up."

"Er…okay." The terror in my eyes was apparent by the way Lester immediately looked sympathetic. His hand reached out and slowly stroked my face.

"I promise you I won't let him know what happened." I nodded and looked down at the tangle of sheets on my bed. "Steph?"

"Yeah?" I looked up to see how bad Lester felt and it just made me feel even worse.

"I am so sorry."

"No Les, please don't be." I reached up to stroke the side of his face; his eyes slowly closing as I did.

"I can't not feel bad."

"You didn't force me into anything, alright? Yes, I would rather Bobby and the others didn't know—but I don't blame you, okay?" He nodded once and opened his eyes and leaned down and gently touched his lips to mine.

"I'm going to hop in the shower now." Once he was out of the room and the shower was running I sat up and by the sudden dizzy feeling in my head; apparently I sat up a little _too quickly_. But the spinning of my head didn't stop as I looked around the room and saw articles of clothing thrown all around. I quickly ran to my dresser and threw on a bra and underwear, and over that I pulled on a pair of baggy sweatpants and a ratty old T-shirt. Then I picked up the clothing and threw my way too slutty (apparently) outfit and threw it in my laundry hamper. My black FMPs were lying on the floor at the end of the bed and I sent them the meanest glare I could conjure up.

"I blame you." I told them before chucking them back into my closet. The water shut off so I quickly threw my comforter over my sinful sheets and sat down in the middle of the bed. A couple minutes later Les emerged in the same outfit he wore last night. The image of pulling his shirt off him and working my hands and mouth over his chest and stomach flashed into my mind. I laid back against the pillows as he walked closer and sat on the bed next to me.

"Everything will be okay."

"Yeah, once it doesn't feel like my head is going to explode anymore." He chuckled and leaned in again pressing his lips once again to mine; letting them linger there for a few seconds.

"I have to go."

"Okay." I muttered out. His lips pressed against mine once more, this time moving against mine in a little less than friendly manner. When he pulled away to say I was confused—would be the understatement of the year. I remember what happened last night; and even if I didn't, the whole—waking up naked next to someone else that was naked would have been a tipoff. But no point during our sexcapade did the topic of love, feelings or a relationship come up. The only thing that came up was our heart rate, but the sudden kisses told me I had to be missing something. Les stood up and before leaving my bedroom turned back to me with a sweet smile, and a softness behind his eyes.

"I had an amazing time last night, Beautiful. I'll see you later, aspirin and water will cure what you're going through right now.

_Ha- I doubt that._ "Thanks, have fun at work." Lester shot me one more smile before heading outside. I only let myself wallow for a couple minutes before immediately stripping my bed of its sheets and pillowcases. My first thought was to burn them; but the memories associated with them would still be there—even if the sheets were nothing more than ashes. After getting a load of laundry going and replacing my bed with a different set of sheets I was saving for season change. Then I stood under the hot water in the shower until it turned cold and dressed again in my T-shirt and sweatpants.

I wanted to be productive on my day without Stella but aside from the pounding feeling in my head; there was a deep pain in my heart. What was I doing? Sure I was single in a sense; but was I really? I mean I accepted whatever relationship Ranger and I had but if I really thought about it—had my heart let him go? _Of course not_. There were still random moments where my emotions would take hold and an aching, searing pain twisted my heart around. And then here comes the news that he was returning home and what do I do—go and sleep with Lester! Who isn't just some guy I know; he is also a co-owner of RangeMan **_and_** Ranger's cousin! Could I be anymore screwed up! To top it all off something was telling me that Lester didn't see what happened as a random hook up between two drunken friends.

I gave up the idea of doing anything productive and instead curled into a ball on my bed. The TV in my bedroom was on but I wasn't paying any attention to it. I wanted to talk to someone about what happened and vent about how much of a fool I was. But who was I supposed to tell! There was no way I was going to tell Celia; even though she had become a best friend to me I still couldn't lay this on her. That would be putting her in the middle of a family affair and although the hints were subtle; I knew she was pulling for Ranger and I to get back together. So to dump the news on her that I slept with her cousin two days before her brother returned—something told me that wouldn't go over well. And the rest of circle of people I knew would either tell everyone else the second I told them; or knew Ranger, Les and I and their opinions would probably not be incredibly friendly. My phone began ringing and my initial reaction was to let it go to voicemail, but I decided to woman-up and answer.

The caller ID told me it was Joe Morelli; after we broke up everything between us became great. We were able to stay good friends and even still had beer and pizza nights. Plus he wasn't prone to gossip and he was a genuine good friend of mine; especially after I got pregnant with my Stella.

"Hello?" I asked, finally deciding to answer the phone.

"Hey, I just heard the news."

"WHAT! How…from who?" I stuttered out, sitting up much too quickly.

"It's pretty common knowledge at this point."

"You have got to be kidding me, how is it public knowledge! It _just_ happened."

"Are we talking about the same thing here?" Joe asked, suddenly very confused with our conversation.

"Well what are you talking about?"

"I heard Ranger's moving back to Trenton; and I wanted to make sure you were doing okay." _Oh—that news_. I was on the verge of a breakdown and I knew I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"What are you doing right now?"

"Just got back from walking Bob, why?"

"Can you please come over?"

"Of course I can Cupcake." The tone in his voice made a lump rise in my throat, he was truly worried about me.

"Thank you, and Joe?"

"Yeah?"

"Bring some donuts." A soft laugh echoed over the phone before he promised he would. I told him the door would be unlocked and to just come in when he got here. When he arrived a half hour later I was still curled up in a ball in my bed with the TV on in the background. He didn't hesitate crawling onto the side of the bed Lester had occupied just a few hours prior. Joe set the box of donuts at the foot of the bed and upon seeing how bad I was doing, pulled me into his arms for a hug.

"You don't seem to be taking this too well." _He had no idea_.

"Joe, I gotta tell you something and swear on your life that you never tell a single soul what I said." He shifted us so he was looking into my face. Even though he was confused with my attitude he still nodded his head in agreement.

"I promise, Cupcake."

"Last night I hooked up with Lester."

"One of the guys that works with Ranger?" Joe's eyes were growing large with the information he was gaining.

"Not just one of them; Lester is Ranger's cousin."

"Shit, Steph." I maneuvered my hands free and placed them over my eyes to block out whatever facial expression Joe was giving me. "Better hope Ranger doesn't find out; he would kill his cousin without thinking twice." I pulled my hands back and even though Joe looked slightly amused, I could tell he was dead serious.

"He would not, Joe! Ranger doesn't want me; so what right would he have even being mad about that?"

"You're joking, right?" I shook my head and he sighed. "Why would you think Ranger doesn't want you?"

"Hmm, I don't know—maybe because he told me he just wanted us to be parents and nothing else. And he has done a really good job of avoiding me throughout the entirety of Estella's life."

"Trust me, Steph. From a guy that used to be head over heels in love with you—Ranger loves you. Whether he wants to admit it now or not and I can _guarantee_ if he finds out, Lester will be in deep shit."

"Well, it doesn't seem fair."

"Why'd you sleep with him?"

"I don't know, I was really drunk and stressed about Ranger coming back and what that would mean for me. We were out at a bar and the flirting went a little too far, and I also have a killer hangover as punishment too."

"It will be okay, now let's eat some donuts. I got some Boston Crème's since I figured you would need them; and now I know for sure you do." I smiled and took one from the box when Joe moved it between us.

Joe stayed with me for a couple hours and watched TV. We didn't talk much but just having someone there that I could trust made everything seem better. Celia sent me a text and told me she'd be bringing Stella home around 8, which gave me plenty of time to sit and wallow. Once Joe went home I remained in bed with no ambition to do anything. Lester had sent me a text telling me he hoped I was feeling better, but I chose not to respond. So when a call came in from a number that was out of area I planned on ignoring it; but my spidey senses woke up just enough to tell me I needed to answer the call.

"Hello?" I mumbled—hoping if it was a telemarketer they'd think I was too depressed to be bothered with whatever product they wanted to sell me.

"Babe." My heart dropped into the pits of my stomach, why did Ranger have to call now.

"Oh hey."

"Did you get the second email I sent you?"

"Oh, no. I haven't checked my email since I replied."

"Well, no need to check it, do you think tomorrow night at 6 would work for dinner?"

"Uh…yeah, 6 sounds just fine."

"Alright, well I'll just meet you on 7 then."

"Sounds good."

"Oh, and Babe?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really looking forward to seeing you." There was no way I could hold back the tears now. I was a horrible monster, and a poor excuse for a human being.

"You too."

"Babe." He said before disconnecting. I dropped the phone from my hand and buried my head in the pillow and let the tears I successfully held back all day come out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: JE's characters—my version.**

**OoooOoooOoooOoooO**

After working the lunch rush at the restaurant I returned home to get ready for my dinner with Ranger. Stella Bee was with my parents for the time being so I could worry about preparing myself for the evening ahead. I took a shower to wash off the smell of various food and drinks; once I was out I spent a little extra time than normal on my hair. And after much deliberation I chose a pair of my nice jeans that accentuated my _ass_ets quite nicely, also making my legs look long and lean. Since I didn't want it to look like I was _completely_ dressing up for a simple dinner to talk about plans for co-parenting, I settled on a blue V-cut shirt with three-quarter length sleeves. I slipped on a modest pair of heels and after applying about a bottle's worth of mascara I was ready to go.

I already had Stella dressed nice in a cute little dress and sweater before I went to work so I didn't have to worry about getting her ready. When I arrived at my parents I was beyond relieved to know Grandma Mazur was at a viewing at the funeral parlor and my dad was out on cab duty. I was nervous enough about this without the added questions from Grandma Mazur; although I expected my mother to prove enough of a verbal challenge. So after fielding about a dozen questions from her about what I planned to do—_like I had figured that out for myself yet!_

By 5:50 we were pulling into the underground parking garage at RangeMan; which I had been in numerous times over the year—but never for this reason. I pulled Stella out of her carseat and secured the diaper bag over my shoulder; right when I was about to head towards the elevator the doors opened and out stepped Lester. His face broke into a bright smile as he jogged to meet up with us, Stella's arms were reaching for him before he even reached us. Without hesitation Les took her from me and gave her a large hug. I had yet to talk to Lester since he left my house the morning after the…_incident_… and I couldn't help but feel bad about it. It was never my intention to ignore him like that, especially since my daughter was absolutely attached to him.

"How have you been, Beautiful?"

"Just fine, working and stuff." I was sure the unease I was feeling was easily noticeable, but Lester remained relaxed and the warmness of his green eyes bore into mine. His simple presence was helping to keep me calm; as much as it was speeding up my heart rate to be near him.

"Hey listen, I know you're going in for dinner and stuff but later tonight do you think we could talk?" The expression on his face was serious—the goofy, joking Lester I knew was nowhere to be seen.

"Uh yeah, I'm not sure what time I'll be leaving here though." His free hand found its way into the pocket of his cargo pants and the muscles in his arm tightened and moved in a way that sent my mind to the way his muscles moved as he deliciously thrust himself inside my aching body. The temperature suddenly felt like it had climbed 10 degrees in the last 30 seconds.

"That's fine, I have something to do now anyways. I can call you later on tonight before I stop by; and if you don't answer I'll just assume you're busy or sleeping." A sweet smile spread over his face as Stella reached up and stroked the side of his face.

"That works for me." Les leaned in and placed a kiss on my cheek and when he backed away the smile on his face was even bigger.

"You look amazing by the way."

I shrugged my shoulders, hoping to remain casual with my demeanor. "I didn't wear anything special for this." He leaned so our faces were just inches apart.

"It's not because of what you're wearing; it's just you, Steph." I couldn't help but smile back and a few seconds later Lester's phone went off in his pocket. He let out a large sigh and I grabbed Stella out of his arms while he dug out his phone.

"Yeah?... I'm going now…..I was sidetracked, calm down…Yes, I do realize you can see me." Lester turned to look at one of the cameras in the garage and waved at it then blew a kiss to it; I couldn't help but laugh.

"Did you get my kiss?" Les asked again, and rolled his eyes. "The longer you keep me on the phone, the longer I'm staying in the garage and not doing what you want me to." The call ended and Lester slipped his phone back into his pocket.

"The guy's been back for less than 12 hours and is already cracking the whip."

"That was Ranger?"

"Yeah," he rolled his eyes. "Better get inside before he sends someone down here to collect you."

"Okay, well I'll talk to you later."

"Absolutely." Les leaned in giving me a final kiss on my forehead, then one on Stella's before he was off. There was no point trying to stall going inside since I was sure now that Ranger was in the control room monitoring our every move.

"Well Stella Bee, are you ready to go see Dada?"

Stella responded by blowing raspberries into my face (her new favorite thing to do). When we were inside the elevator I pulled out my keyfab to get us to the 7th floor. The elevator stopped on 5 and the doors opened to reveal Ranger standing in front of me. My mouth suddenly went dry, my knees were shaking, and I suddenly forgot everything about how to speak. It had been over a year since I saw this man and if anything he only grew more attractive. His simple black RangeMan shirt stretched over his even bigger muscles, his lips looked fuller and his eyes became more incredible to look at. Ranger stepped into the elevator and the door closed and continued the journey up to 7.

"Hello baby girl, how are you?" Ranger asked, reaching out to lift her into his arms. "And how are you, Steph? You look well." I watched as Ranger placed a few soft kisses on his daughter's face, as her recognition of who he was came back to her.

"Thanks, I'm good—you look good too." He flashed me his 200-watt smile and stepped out as the doors opened to the front door of his penthouse.

Once inside I was amazed to see the table was already set for dinner with white wine poured and seated in front of our place settings. A new high chair sat in between the two place settings and I couldn't help but notice that suddenly the extremely impersonal penthouse was filled with toys and books and anything else a 14 month old could ever want. Ranger smiled as he noticed the shock in my face.

"Ella went all out for Estella."

"Yeah, I can see that."

"Shall we sit?" He motioned his arm out to lead me to the table and I took my seat as he strapped Stella into her high chair. The food on the table looked and smelled delicious; grilled chicken, a pasta salad, various foods and a bowl of dinner rolls. I immediately started cutting up a piece of chicken into Stella size bites and set them on the high chair in front of her. We dished up our plates in silence.

"This is delicious." I said after a few bites of the various food items on my plate.

"Ella always does a great job."

"She sure does." If I thought seeing Lester was awkward; it was nothing like this meal. I didn't know what to say or what to do, his presence and our current situation brought out an ache in my heart but it was one I didn't understand. I tried to push the feelings to the back of my mind and get down to the real reason we were here.

"So now that you're back; how do you want things to change with seeing your daughter?"

"With my schedule changing on a daily basis it's difficult to create a set plan, but I would like to see her. I know she comes around here a lot and Ella babysits her."

"She does." I confirmed with a nod.

"I'd like if we can work out something for Ella to watch Estella on a more permanent basis."

"What do you mean?"

"Ella would be her primary babysitter when you need to go to work; this way I can see Estella whenever my schedule allows me time."

"I don't think I can do that." If someone didn't know Ranger well they may not have noticed the slight raise in his eyebrow and the flash of surprise before his face went back to being the typical stoic Ranger. "Ella is great with her and I have no problem bringing her over here. But she isn't the only one that wants to spend time with her. There is your sisters for instance that love to see her, and my parents; I'm not just going to take their opportunity of seeing Stella away from them."

Ranger nodded his head slightly and took a sip of wine, I did the same. "I can understand that."

"Why don't you try to make specific times during the week; block off a few hours of time if you want to see her that bad."

Suddenly I felt myself getting angry; here, sitting across from me was a man I had loved with all my heart. I would have done everything in my power to protect him; no matter how good he was at protecting himself. But it all hit me like a ton of bricks the way he left _me_, when I needed him the most and sure he was there for Stella financially and whenever he was in town. But now he expected me to take her away from all those that cared for her and reward him with unlimited access whenever he had the time for her. _No_, I wasn't going to give in that easily. I slammed down the rest of my wine and shoveled a large bite of pasta salad in my mouth; ignoring whatever stoic expression Ranger was staring at me with.

"I will set time aside for her, I promise."

"Don't promise me anything, do what you say you will. But this way if you change your mind and take off again I'm not broken up but_ your_ broken promise." I risked a glance up at him and saw how incredibly hurt he looked with my words, _good!_

"Babe…"

"No! Don't 'babe' me, we are not together; we are simply two people working out a schedule that will allow us to co-parent our daughter. I mean you don't call Rachel 'babe' do you?"

"Of course not."

"Well I'm not your babe anymore." The words came out stronger than I was feeling; I could feel the heart break from the last couple years coming back. I wasn't _his_ anymore and I don't know if I ever truly was. This whole time I was waiting around whether I believed it or not, for Ranger to come around. To come back and pull me into his strong arms and tell me he wanted me—he wanted _us_. And maybe he was finally at that point; but I wasn't anymore. My beautiful daughter and I deserve more than just someone that wants us around and will make time whenever it works out for his schedule.

"Listen, thank you for dinner; please thank Ella for me. We will work something out so you can have time with Stella. Next time though let's just email, no point taking time out of your crazy lifestyle to entertain us with dinner." I said making sure I didn't hide any of my pain or irritation. I stood up and wiped away the mess on Stella's face and lifted her into my arms.

"Stephanie, please don't leave. There is something important I wanted to talk about."

"Well why not just tell me in an email; that's been working pretty great for us so far." I could see everything I was saying was a complete surprise to him. This was clearly something Ranger didn't forsee happening during our visit. But I could feel the beginning sting of angry tears threatening to escape, and there was no way I was going to let him see them. I threw the diaper bag over my shoulder and started towards the door.

"Steph…" I whirled around to stare into his eyes as I noticed he was following us to the door.

"Don't Ranger! I don't want to hear it; if it's not about Stella, it no longer concerns me."

"I love you." The words I had been waiting so long to hear were finally there; lingering in the air between us. I glanced down at my chest; expecting to see a massive hole in my shirt where my heart had been ripped out.

"You have no right to do this to me, I have to go." Before he could do anything else I turned to leave; but not before I noticed the sorrow in his expression. I made my way into the elevator and even made it completely outside of the RangeMan parking garage before the few tears managed to escape.

Needless to say I spent the rest of the night playing and cuddling with my Stella Bee, because there was no better cure for a broken heart than spending time with my amazing daughter. By 9 o'clock she was in bed and I had changed into a pair of sweatpants and a tank top, watching whatever random sitcom the TV was set on. At 10:30 Lester called my phone and told me he was about a block away if I was home, I thought of telling him not to come tonight since I was still not in the best mood. But I decided against it and told him the door would be open whenever he showed up. While I waited I made myself useful by pulling out two beers; setting one on the coffee table in front of the couch and taking a drink out of the other one.

"Hey Beautiful." Lester said a few minutes later as he entered into the living room and plopped down on the couch; taking a drink of the beer waiting for him. It wasn't difficult to see how exhausted Lester was and the immediate concern for my friend working too hard surfaced.

"Everything okay, Les? You look exhausted."

"Yeah, long day—not the first and certainly won't be the last."

"Hopefully you're able to get some rest." My hand reached of its own free will; to rub his shoulder and his eyes closed slowly at the feeling of the way I rubbed against the knots of stress.

"Yeah, I'm headed to RangeMan to go to sleep after I leave here."

"Good, so what's going on?"

"I wanted to talk about what happened between us the other night." _I really wish we wouldn't_.

"Okay?"

"I'm sorry for the way things happened."

"Oh."

"I'm not sorry that it happened, but for the way it happened."

"Sorry Les, it's been a long day—I'm not exactly following what you're saying." Lester turned on the couch to stare directly into my face.

"I have had feelings for you for a very long time, but I was just so used to our friendship that I never said anything before about it. Then this thing between us happened the other night and I realize we had both been drinking, but it was one of the best nights of my life—because I was with you. Every time I'm around you it feels like everything gets better; if I'm tired, or stressed or frustrated it all fades away when I'm around you. The next morning I had initially decided that I would do nothing about it, and give you space. But it took me all of 5 minutes to realize I couldn't do that; I realize the timing is awful—especially with Ranger returning. And I know the two of you have some unresolved issues, and before it never bothered me to think of the two of you together. But after we slept together and I woke up next to you—I realized there was no other way I wanted to wake up. And the thought of you seeing Ranger has been gnawing away at me since I left here the other day. So I came here to tell you that I want a chance, I want you to try and be with me."

"Les…" I didn't even know what to say; why is it that after months upon months of being happily alone I am now stuck in the middle between two men that mean a lot to me that want nothing more than to be with me. _Why me!?_

"Just think about it, Steph, okay? I mean do you enjoy spending time with me?"

"Well of course I do."

"And do you feel that everything is great and better no matter what we do; as long as we're together?"

"Well yeah, but…"

"Do you regret the other night?" Since my hangover had subsided and I had a chance to think a little clearer without a Drumline Team practicing in my mind I thought about what happened. And there was only one way I could honestly answer his question.

"No, I don't."

One of my favorite Lester smiles broke through the exhaustion and worry. He placed a hand on either side of my face and pulled me to him to place his warm, soft, _amazing_ lips upon mine. Our lips moved together slowly in one of the most sensual kisses I had ever experienced before he pulled back. I looked up at him through my heavily mascara-ed lashes and our eye contact was a promise for more than I could have ever imagined possible. Lester's phone rang and we both jumped apart; he looked at the ID and rolled his eyes.

"_What_?" He growled in a low, menacing tone into the phone. "I'll be there soon, but I was under the impression I completed the assignment needed for tonight…. Christ, yeah… NO, I'll be there." He shut his phone and returned to look at me; his eyes softened as he stroked my cheek.

"Duty calls." I nodded at him, and he pressed his lips against mine once more in a kiss that quickly deepened. I was sure it was supposed to be just a goodbye kiss but I could feel the way he held our lips together that I was healing him of everything he said. And for the first time I realized just how much our friendship meant to him; and to me. The intensity has only deepening, even though I wanted to stop for a breath—I couldn't. One of his hands was on the side of my face and out of nowhere my hands reached out and clutched onto his shirt and pulled him closer to me. Reluctantly though we both pulled apart and he looked at me with the biggest smile I had ever seen on his face.

"Please think about it, Steph." And with one kiss on my forehead Lester was off to save the world. And here I sat; the Queen of pushing everything aside and now I had two people that I cared for, _cousins_, none-the-less; both laying their cards out for me to see and choose which was my lucky hand.

**A/N: **_I am loving your reviews! Keep letting me know where this is going; and I promise there is a __**lot**__ more story left! : ) Anyways, I will be house sitting at my Grandma's house the next few days and their internet is always on the fritz. So while I can still access emails and the website on my phone I probably won't be able to update until I return home. Just a heads up! But if you continue leaving me wonderful reviews I will work as hard as possible to update a few chapters when I return… As long as you let me know that's what you want! : )_


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: JE's characters—my version.**

**OoooOoooOoooOoooO**

Getting to sleep after Lester left and after the long day I had was quite a difficult task. Playing on repeat in my mind was Ranger's declaration of love; followed by Lester's plea for me to give us a chance. Here I was holding on to the idea of Ranger being a part of our family since he left; but seeing him made me furious. But the phrase,_ a lover scorned_, seemed to fit appropriately in this situation; but I didn't want to think like that. Then there was the issue of this thing with Lester; a part of me wanted to chalk this up to a drunken night and nothing more. But the feeling of his soft full lips was still present on mine and I find myself wondering about what something between us would be like. The indecision of my mind continued to flip between Lester and Ranger until finally at 3 in the morning the exhaustion of the last 24 hours took over.

**OoooOoooOoooOoooO**

The next few days I worked a noon to 9 shift and was thankful to be so busy and unable to think of things that undoubtedly _should_ be thinking of. Since I was scheduled to work the weekend, I had Thursday and Friday off. Normally I'd be ecstatic but something told me this wasn't going to be quite the relaxing two days off I was used to.

My sister Valerie and her daughters were visiting my mom and she demanded I bring Stella over to see them. When I tried to make excuses about all the errands Stella and I had to run; my mom decided I needed to let Stella spend the night with them. When I was upset and needed cheering up there was no one better for me to be around then my daughter. The selfish side of me wanted to tell my mother _too damn bad_, Stella was my daughter and I wasn't going to share her. But the guilt trip my mother laid on me was enough to cave in to her demands to see her grandchild.

I planned to stay and hang out with my baby girl for a little while but the house was complete chaos. I could feel myself edging towards the car from the second I stepped foot inside. So with a quick hello to everyone; I was on my way out. Before I was even a block away from the house my phone rang; which I assumed was my mother bribing me with pineapple upside-down cake to come back and hang out in the Circus house.

"You better have an offer better than pineapple upside-down cake to get me to go back to that house." I said, matter-of-factly.

"What house are you avoiding?" The amused voice of Ranger replied back to me.

"Oh, hey—sorry I thought you were my mom."

"Ouch." I couldn't help but laugh.

"No, I mean I was just leaving her house and it's a zoo over there."

"Isn't it always?" I could practically hear the smile in his voice.

"Yeah, but now my sister is visiting with Albert and the kids too. My mom kinda forced me to bring Stella over but I booked it out of there as fast as I could."

"Can't say I blame ya there. What are you doing now?"

"Oh uh…I was just probably going to head home for a little bit."

"Mind if I stop by to talk to you about something?" Oh great, another conversation with Ranger without having Stella there to be my distraction. I wanted to say no; but if it was a conversation about Stella I didn't want to be known as immature because I couldn't handle a simple conversation with the father of my child.

"Yeah, that's fine. I'll be there in about 10 minutes; do you need directions?"

He let lout a single laugh; I suppose I should have known Ranger would know exactly where I lived.

"Okay, well I'll see you in a few minutes."

When I arrived to the apartment; Ranger's Porsche was already in the parking lot and when I didn't see him anywhere waiting for me—it didn't take long to assume he had already let himself in. What did surprise me was when I got there the classic all black outfit and stoic Ranger expression was absorbed in the photos I had around the living room. All were photos of Stella and our friends and family; even a few of her with the many RangeMan employees that were smitten with that little girl. Even though Ranger wasn't giving anything away about how he felt staring at the pictures; there was a very small smile visible that one who didn't know Ranger wouldn't have noticed.

"She has a lot of good people in her life." I said to end the silence.

"That makes me happy." Ranger said without looking at me; but the sudden tension around his eyes told me there was some feelings he was holding back from me. And it was easy to see it was difficult for him to look at these pictures.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

After another couple moments of silence he turned his attention away from the photos and focused on me. "I will be leaving town for a couple days to pick up an FTA."

"Okay."

"And before I go I just needed to apologize for throwing my feelings on you like I did."

"Why did you?" The question came out before I could stop it. I of course wanted to know but I wasn't sure I was ready to have this conversation.

"Stephanie, you know me very well; and you know a lot of what I deal with on a daily basis. I am far from a family man; the way we were in before you got pregnant was the closest I have come in a long time to an actual relationship. When you told me you were pregnant I had flashbacks of Rachel telling me about Julie. And before I even wanted to give us a chance I convinced me to not be in your life would be the best."

"The best for who?"

"For you and Estella; I want nothing more than the two of you to be safe and have everything you could ever want or need."

The intense whirlwind of emotions that I have experienced in the last couple years seemed to all be surfacing. "Did you ever consider that what we wanted and needed might not be something you can buy us? Maybe it isn't access to an endless supply of cars or a shit ton of money deposited into my account every month." The tears were beginning to pool up but I was _not_ about to let him see me cry.

"I didn't want to be what you needed, Stephanie. But being here and watching you carry my child was something I couldn't be around. It was killing me. It took me longer than I wanted to actually admit to myself that what I wanted was to be with you. And there are a lot of things I know about and being a family man isn't one of them. When I came home I wanted nothing more than to become a part of Estella and your lives. Then I saw you and the way you regarded me I felt like you had already slipped through my fingers."

I stood there with my arms over my chest as I bit down on my lip to hold back the overwhelming emotions I didn't want to deal with. Ranger slowly closed the space between us and his hands moved from my shoulders to frame my face.

"Please tell me Stephanie, am I too late? Have I already lost you and any chance of a future together?"

My mind screamed, _yes you have ya big dummy!_ While my heart was screaming out, _No absolutely not—I love you!_ And the indecision was enough to cause a couple whimpers to escape my throat. Ranger's beautiful strong brown eyes softened while he waited for my answer. My voice was not to be trusted and without any control my head slowly shook to give his answer: no, he hadn't completely lost me—yet.

The remaining few inches between us closed as the lips I have dreamed of; pressed against mine. Almost immediately my lips spread open and allowed his tongue to explore the inside of my mouth. My knees were shaking; my heart was pounding and all the control I had of my tears released as a few rolled over my cheeks. Ranger's mouth left mine; leaving me with a want for more. I expected him to leave but instead his lips pressed against my cheeks to wipe away my tears.

"I need to go catch a plane, but I need to know I can see you when I get back."

I was still unable to form words so I simply nodded and with another kiss he left me standing stunned. Damn these men in black and their hold they have over me.

**OoooOoooOoooOoooO**

Once I finally was able to move again I walked to the fridge, slammed down a beer, then passed out for a nap. I don't like dealing with confrontation about certain things; especially things so intimate as matters of the heart. And in the past week that is _all_ I have been dealing with it seems. My nap was interrupted by the feeling of something moving up and down the length of my arm. I shot up as quickly as I could and saw Lester lying on the bed next to me; running his fingers gently across my skin.

"Shit Les, you scared the beegus out of me!"

A smile spread across his face as he sat up. "The surveillance I was supposed to do tonight was cancelled and I was awarded with the night off."

"That's a pretty nice surprise."

"It sure is, I remember you saying that you were off today so I swung over to see if you wanted to do something."

"Something like what?"

He let out a laugh as my eyes subconsciously scanned the bed we were occupying. "I thought we could see a movie, then get some take out and come back here and hang out. I'm assuming you don't have Stella tonight; because she isn't here at all."

"No she's with my folks tonight."

"So what do you say?" The way his green eyes sparkled with excitement at the thought of hanging out tonight. I couldn't help but smile; saying no to Lester was really difficult—especially since every time I saw him we always had fun.

"Sure, why not. But I want to take a shower first."

"No problem, you get ready and I'll see what's playing."

"Sounds good."

I shifted to get out of the bed but Lester wrapped his hand around my wrist. "One thing before you go." When I turned to face him and see what he wanted; his free hand rested on my cheek. And for the second time today full and delicious lips pressed against mine. I know I should pull away and keep the confusion I have going on to a minimum. But Lester's lips were really soft and he was an amazing kisser. His hands moved under my arms and he yanked me to lay on top of him and both of us couldn't hold back laughing. Normally laughing always seemed to kill the mood; this time it was fun and fueled the fire behind our kisses. After a few minutes I rolled over off him and both of us were gasping for breath.

"Okay- I need to shower now."

"Get to it then, Beautiful." Once I stood up Lester laid a playful smack on my ass as I walked away from him.

**OoooOoooOoooOoooO**

I decided not to dress up for the movie; I threw on a pair of Levi's and one of my button up flannel shirts with a white tank top that showed where I decided not to do the buttons. I swiped on some mascara but not more than usual; but the thing about hanging out with Lester—he knew how to make me feel good no matter what I looked like. Lester had picked out a movie and when we got there I swear we acted like a couple of teenagers.

Even though it wasn't planned to be an actual date; it felt like it. We couldn't keep our hands off each other; his hands would touch my arms and my waist. I constantly brushed against his chest and ran my hands through his hair. And we couldn't stop smiling and laughing; even during the movie we shared the same arm rest and continuously whispered jokes into the other's ear. It had been years since I had been on a date and I forgot how much fun it could be just to flirt and have fun. Sure things were definitely more flirty than they usually were between us but it still was comforting to be around my friend. Even when we went back to my place with take out. We slammed back a few beers, put on a few movies, and even exchanged quite a few kisses. But one of the things I liked the most was Lester never once tried to force me into the bedroom.

Because no matter how much fun I was having; and how much I was enjoying the feeling of his lips on mine. I couldn't deny the way my heart was aching once again for Ranger, but for the first time in the entire time I knew Lester—that I was beginning to think of him as more than just a friend. Which without a doubt scared the hell out of me.

**A/N: ** Just so you know; I read all your reviews and I absolutely love them! I may not message everyone individually but just know you are absolutely making my day. By taking the time out to read and review my story means more than you could imagine! And I can promise; there is plenty more juicy-ness to come for Steph and her men in black.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: JE's Characters—my version.**

Chapter Six

The next day I managed to get Stella back from my mother's house without dealing with the three-ring circus for long. It was a beautiful day, the sun shining, and a cool breeze whirling through the air.

"What do you think baby girl, should we go to the park?"

I looked over my shoulder at my smiling baby; her curly black hair was pulled into a fountain ponytail. Her blue eyes lit up and she giggled as I stuck my tongue out at her. The volume of the radio was set to a love level so I turned it up and Stella began to sing along in her baby noises; which I couldn't resist laughing at my goofy girl. When I watched Stella most of the time I saw my personality shining through with her own; but on certain occasions she was Ranger to a T. When she first arrives to a new place her expression is stoic and reserved as she takes in everything. Every toy she plays with she examines every function of it and I have never met another 14 month old as aware of her surroundings as my girl.

It was these moments in particular that I missed Ranger the most; she reminded me of him so much that the ache for him in my heart never went away. I have become an expert at pushing thoughts of him to the back of my mind; but they were always there. They were always silenced by the simple fact that he lived so far away from me. Now not only is he back—but _he wants me_; no he _loves me_. And when he returns I will have to give him some sort of answer about what I want from him. How was I just supposed to know in a few days? It'd be a lie to simply say I didn't care about Ranger and didn't want a future with him; there was a part of me that wanted nothing more than what he was offering. But I couldn't just simply give my heart to him again; he had my heart in his hands before I got pregnant and my heart was left in the dust. It was difficult to imagine picking up where we left off right now; and now there was this weird and intense connection with Lester.

Lester has always been an amazing person in my life; but that one night changed everything for us. Flirting for us was always a normality but it was innocent to all degrees. I let my drunken needs get the better of me and decided to experience Lester in a new way. Occasionally I found myself thinking back to that night and just the thought of it made me feel heat in places that only promised to make things more complicated. But still here I was wondering about Lester, missing Ranger and no idea what to do.

I pulled into the parking lot of the park and just then my phone started ringing.

"Who do you think it is, Stella Bee?" I asked her as I dug around in my purse for my phone. My heart skipped a beat when I looked down and saw the incoming call was from Lester.

"Hello?"

"Hey Beautiful, what are you doing?"

"Stella and I just got to the park; we're going to go swing for a bit. Isn't that right, Stella Bee?" Stella giggled and Lester laughed in response to her.

"Well, I'm right by the park mind if I swing on by?" He said with a laugh.

"It's really up to Stella." I was flirting; and I couldn't get myself to stop. But I didn't want to say yes and risk the desperation I felt to see him, show in my voice. And if I said no; I would be bummed all day knowing I couldn't see him. Lordy—why the hell did I feel this way?

"I'm pretty sure she wants to see me." My face broke out into a smile.

"Well then I guess we'll see you soon."

We disconnected and I had a sudden burst of energy—not to mention the perma-grin stuck on my face. I pulled Stella out of her car seat and held her hand as we walked over the sand to the baby swings. Even before I lifted Stella into the swing she was full of giggles; and I couldn't help but laugh too. Stella put me in an amazing mood anyways; but it was impossible to deny that knowing Les was on his way made my mood soar above the clouds.

I grabbed hold of the front of the swing and lifted Stella up and let her swing backwards making her squeal with joy. Once she was swinging at a good speed, I began trying to grab her feet; which she would quickly pull away from me still laughing. After a few more minutes of that I was beginning to get a little antsy waiting for Les to arrive so I positioned myself behind Stella's swing to push her. This also gave me a clear view of the parking lot so I saw the moment Lester's SUV pulled up. An entire butterfly farm began flying around inside my stomach with the excitement of waiting for him to come closer.

Sometimes it was hard for me to remember that Lester owned colors other than black; and today he looked like a regular guy. He was wearing white shoes paired with a pair of jeans that hung perfectly on his muscular legs, and a gray T-shirt. My favorite part of his outfit though was the baby blue backwards cap; which immediately provided me with erotic memories of our night together and my request to leave on the hat. So now here I was; hot and bothered at a playground for kids! What is my problem! I leaned down to Stella and pointed at Lester; once she spotted him her chants for '_Es_', started up. Lester's face beamed back to her and he ran over to close the distance between them. He grabbed hold of the front of her swing and placed a kiss on her forehead before giving her a push to begin swinging again. Lester moved around the swing to walk to me and before I realized what he was doing; his hands were resting against my lower back and his lips were on mine. Even without tongue the kiss was Earth-shattering, over-the-moon feeling. We both pulled back breathless with smiles that weren't going away anytime soon.

"Nice hat." I said with a smirk and he gave me a wink and pressed his lips to mine once more for a quick kiss. I noticed the back of the hat didn't have a place to adjust the size but instead embroidered in black font it said '_Santos'_. "Did you have that put on there so you didn't forget your name?" I asked motioning to his forehead; he smiled and shook his head, releasing me from his grasp.

"I played football in high school; so they put the last name on the back of all the player's hats."

"Well, I like it." He reached out and wrapped his fingers in my belt loops and pulled me back towards him.

"I'm glad to hear that." He whispered against my mouth before kissing me once more. Lester walked to the front of the swing so Stella Bee could see him; he would try to grab her feet, and I would give her a push forward. Then Lester would mix it up by reaching in to tickle her belly or armpits; the three of us were all laughing.

I left my post as swing pusher and sat in the swing next to Stella and started pumping my legs to pick up speed. Lester moved to the back of our swings and alternated between pushing Stella to pushing me; while Stella and I reached out a hand to grab each other.

"Get up, Steph." Lester said as he moved away from Stella's swing to mine.

"Why, you want a turn?" He smiled so I got up and before I could walk away he sat on the swing and pulled me down in his lap. We pushed off the ground and my hands held onto the chains while Lester's arms wrapped around my waist. I couldn't imagine this was comfortable for Lester to have the swing digging into his thighs; but he didn't complain. Stella was laughing at us swinging like her; Lester reached out a hand to give her another push before replacing it around my waist.

Our legs pumped together and Lester placed a kiss on my shoulder before he rested his chin on it. I felt a fire in my body beginning from the spot his lips touched me and for a moment I closed my eyes and let myself live in this moment. Here I was with my absolutely incredible daughter that has been the light of my life since the first moment I laid eyes on her. And then there was Lester; a great friend, gorgeous smile, killer body and suddenly his arms were ones I found myself loving to be encircled in. We all sat in silence for a few minutes until Stella started getting restless and wanting to get out of the swing. Lester and I stopped our swing and he picked her up and ran with her over to the slide.

They laughed the whole way down and the image of Stella sitting in Lester's lap going down the slide was one that warmed my heart. Had I really never realized before how much these two meant to each other; not to mention _to me_.

After the slide we headed to the teeter-totter where I sat with Stella in my lap on one side, and Lester sat opposite us. We moved from there to the sandbox, and once Stella's attention span ran out on that she demanded to go down the slide again. The three of us spent the greater part of our day at the park and when we were getting ready to go Lester's phone went off.

"I'm sorry Beautiful, but that was the office—I have to go in and get this skip."

I finished buckling Stella into her car seat, shut her door then leaned against it to answer him. "That's okay, thank you for spending today with us."

Les smiled and put his hands on my lower back to pull me into him. "This was one of the best days I've had in a long time."

"Oh yeah?" I asked, trying to hide my smile. His amazing green eyes sparked with a desire that I knew had to be in mine too.

Lester leaned his face down to mine and my hands subconsciously reached up and pulled him down to me. His soft lips once again brought up a feeling so strong that I couldn't even remember where I was; only that I was with Les. When he pulled away I saw the same expression that was on his face during the cab ride after the bar. "Oh yeah." He said agreeing to the question I had completely forgot I asked him.

"Can I come see you after we get this FTA?"

There were no second thoughts swirling around my mind when I nodded. So with a final kiss he hopped into his SUV and gave me a wave before driving off. I stood there still watching where his car had driven away when I heard a woman's voice talk to me.

"You are one lucky woman." The woman said and I smiled to her and looked back after Lester's truck.

"I sure am."

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

When Stella and I got home; I made us dinner and gave her a bath before I hopped in the shower. By 9 Stella was put to bed and I still hadn't heard from Lester. I kept trying to act like I didn't care whether or not he called me; but the churning of my stomach was saying otherwise. By 10 I was resigned to just going to bed but then my phone went off; I practically jumped over my furniture to get my phone in time. Before answering though I took a couple deep breaths so it didn't sound like I had been running a marathon to get to the phone in time.

"Hey."

"Hey Beautiful; sorry I didn't call you sooner."

"Oh, it's no big deal. I was actually just doing a little reading." _Oh Lord, what a lie that was—hopefully he didn't see through it_.

"Oh yeah, what were you reading?" The amusement in his voice told me he _absolutely_ saw through my pathetic attempts to sound casual.

"Ya know—stuff." Lester let out a laugh. "Anyways, how'd it go?"

"It went fine but Tank called us in for a briefing of future FTA's we'll need to apprehend; that's what took so long. Can I still come by? I won't stay long but there's something I want to give you."

"Yeah, for sure—how long until you get here?"

Lester let out a nervous chuckle. "I'm actually here now; I just wanted to make sure you said I could before I looked like just another one of your stalkers."

"Come on up, Les!" I heard the click of his seat belt and we both disconnected the line. Before I could even get to the door to unlock it; there was already a soft knock on it. When I pulled open the door; Lester's lips immediately met mine and stepped us into the apartment. With his free hand he pushed my apartment door shut and eventually pulled away from my lips.

"I have to say Steph, I'm kicking myself for waiting so damn long to kiss you." His comment took me by surprise and I could feel the tops of my ears heat up with embarrassment."

"Why do you say that?"

Lester reached his thumb and slowly traced my lips. "Because you are an amazing kisser; I swear I get near you and I can't help myself."

I smiled under his thumb. "So is that what you came over here to give me?" Les laughed and shook his head. "No—do you still have Hal's hat?"

"Oh yeah, it's on my dresser." I stepped away from Lester to walk into my bedroom and noticed he was back in his all black uniform. _Damn, is there anything this man doesn't look good in!_ Lester followed me into my room and when I held out Hal's hat he took it from my hands and replaced it with his baby blue hat from earlier.

I raised my eyebrow in confusion at what he was doing. "I want you to have my hat."

"Why, is Hal asking for his back?" I asked with a laugh and Lester shook his head.

"I just don't like idea of another guy's hat in your room." We both smiled and I took his hat from his hands and leaned in to give him a simple 'Thank you' kiss. I wasn't sure if it was the proximity to the bed, or a day full of kisses; but this one was far from a simple innocent kiss. Our arms wound around the other as our tongues explored the delicious taste of the other's mouth. But just as quickly as it began; Lester pulled away and held me at arm's length from him.

"I want you, Stephanie; more than I've wanted anything. But I'm not going to let anything go further than kissing, because you deserve more than that. I've let myself be this guy that didn't think of sex as anything deeper than a one night thing: until you. I have been extremely attracted to you for so long and resisted doing anything that would put you in the middle of a family dispute. And I can't lie that I'm glad I had all those drinks at the bar that night; not because I need to be drunk to be with you—but I would have always been the respectful guy and kept my distance from you. But I have never experienced anything as good as what we did here that night. I'm not asking you to decide tonight what you want from us; but I'm just warning you my self-control is only so good. And making out with you just feet from your bed—isn't exactly going to help me give you space." I couldn't help but smile again and felt him loosen his hold as I leaned in to put a single peck on his lips.

"Then we should probably get out of here." He nodded; clearly pleased in himself for resisting the temptations that I know I was experiencing too. I set my new favorite hat down on my dresser and walked Lester to the door. We said goodnight and he left; leaving me wide awake and unable to think about going to bed.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

All through work the next day I couldn't hide my smile and the feeling of bliss inside of me. My ecstatic attitude also had a positive effect on my tips as well. The one thing that did bum me out though was I worked until 9 so by the time I picked up Stella: it was bedtime. Instead of putting her immediately in her crib I slowly rocked her back and forth; letting sleep take over my tiny body. The sudden feeling that I had to pee was the only thing that made me finally put Stella in her crib.

I was about to curl up in my bed and watch a movie when I heard a knock on the door. Glancing at my phone I saw I had no missed calls or texts; I couldn't think of who would show up at 10 at night without first contacting me. So when I opened the door I was shocked to see Ranger standing in my doorway.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I just got in; it took a little longer than I expected. I'm sorry I didn't call; I was on my way to Haywood but since I was passing your apartment I wanted to see if you were up."

"I'm up, come on in." I stepped aside to allow him room to walk in. Since I planned to burrow under my covers I was only wearing shorts and a tank top; and now not only did I feel cold standing here I was also feeling a little exposed. "I'm just going to grab a sweatshirt quick."

I walked into my room and pulled out a gray hoodie from the closet and turned around to see that Ranger had followed me in. "So, how was your trip?" I asked awkwardly. Ranger shrugged his shoulders and reached out to grab the middle pocket of my sweatshirt and pull him into him. My heart was beating at the same quick rate of a Hummingbird and Ranger's smile told me he could hear it too.

"Did you think about us at all?" He asked; his dark eyes boring down into mine. _No—I have actually spent the weekend making out with your cousin at every opportunity I had._

"Sort of."

"And what do you think?" My only answer was to swallow back the lump in my throat. Ranger smiled and leaned his lips towards mine. And subconsciously my body took a step back from him—I could hardly believe it; I was saying _no_. The look in Ranger's eyes was mixed with pain and confusion before he regained his stoic expression.

I felt compelled to give him some sort of explanation; because aside from the fact I was making out with Lester—I still didn't think I was ready to dive into something else with Ranger. "There have been some new developments." Was my poor excuse—which of course only raised more questions with him. Why couldn't I have just said; I don't think it's a good idea?

"Are you seeing someone?" _Oh shit—_we were going to jump right into the big issue here.

"No…Sort of….Not exactly." Ranger's eyes narrowed dangerously as he stared at me.

"Which is it?" Before I could answer something caught his attention behind me and when I turned to see what he was looking at—my stomach sank. Sitting on my dresser in full view of Ranger's angry eyes was the baby blue cap with the clear as day writing of '_Santos'_ on the back. When he looked back to me I was surprised to know he could look more pissed off as the seconds ticked by.

"Lester?" He asked me with a voice that had me shaking with how venomous it was.

"I….uh..I…" I stammered out stupidly.

"Did you sleep with him?" I opened my mouth to say something—but nothing came out. His eyes told me he knew the answer and for some reason I felt the need to make things less awful right now.

"Once."

Ranger let out a noise that resembled a growl as he shook his head. "I'm gonna kill him." He said more to himself then me.

He turned to leave and I tried to grab his arm from leaving before I could explain. "Ranger, don't please!" He yanked his arm from my grasp and stalked out the apartment. My first instinct was to chase after him but the sleeping baby in my apartment made that instinct go away. Instead I picked up my phone and immediately dialed Lester's number.

"Hey Beaut…" Before he could finish I cut him off.

"Les, we have a problem."


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: JE's Characters—my version.**

Chapter Seven

I warned Lester about Ranger and felt even more unsettled when my only response from him was '_I'll take care of this'_. So now I was pacing around my living room; frantically dialing Ranger and Lester's phones hoping to get one of them to answer. When neither answered my dozen or so calls there was only one thing I could think to do. Living on the same floor of the apartment complex as me was a 22 year old named Jenny; she was funny and sweet—and nocturnal. There have been many occasions where she has babysat Stella at night so I could go out with Celia if my parents were busy.

"Hello?" Jenny sang into the phone.

"Hey I'm sorry to call so late…"

Jenny started laughing. "Steph, you know me—this isn't late! This is early!" I let out a laugh before continuing.

"Do you think you could do me a huge and _immediate_ favor?"

"Absolutely, Chica—what's up?"

"Can you come over right now and watch Stella for a little while? She's already sleeping but something big has come up and I need to go immediately."

"On my way!" I blew out a sigh of relief and ran to open the front door. Jenny ran down the hall carrying a bag of microwave popcorn and a can of coke. I couldn't help but laugh; especially when I noticed her pink bunny slippers. Once she made it inside I quickly slipped on my shoes.

"I don't know how long this will take; but thank you so much!"

"No problemo! And as payment; you can tell me when you get back what is going on—sounds juicy!" She said with a smile.

"Deal!" I grabbed my keys and ran outside to my car.

The night air was so cold and my exposed legs were now covered in goosebumps; well at least I had a sweatshirt on! I should have taken a second to change from shorts to pants but my mind was away at Haywood with the two guys that weren't going to back down from a fight. This was _such_ a mess! And the worst thing was it was all because of me! Hadn't I learned my lesson when I put myself in the middle of Ranger and Joe? Now here I was doing it again; but this was worse—they are family!

When I was around Lester though I couldn't control my not quite friendly feelings; and I got lost in the feeling of his hands and lips on me. This was all so new and it couldn't have started at a worse time. Because while I wasn't ready to call everything quits for a potential future with Lester; I still hadn't decided how I felt about Ranger. There had always been a connection between Ranger and I; and all along I pictured that Ranger would return and tell me he loved me and wanted us to be a family. Well now he has said everything I wanted him too; but I couldn't just act like it was that easy to take him back.

But right now my feelings no longer mattered; I refuse to let Lester and Ranger fight over me—even if it meant letting them both go…for now at least. My stomach was in my throat as I pulled into the underground parking lot. I quickly parked my car next to the stairs and took off running downstairs. There was no doubt in my mind that they weren't settling this in a civilized way by talking about it upstairs. _No way_—these two men oozed testosterone and there was only one place I could imagine them being: on the mats. Once on the staircase I quickly descended and the sound of running feet from the steps above me told me I was heading in the right direction.

"Stephanie, don't!" Tank's voice called out to me; but that didn't matter. I didn't expect Tank or the other guys to be able to just break apart something like this. The only way I could get them to stop is to pull them apart on my own. Outside the door to the gym I heard grunts, shuffling feet and the two of them yelling at each other in Spanish. _Damn-I really needed to learn Spanish; especially in times like this_.

I swung open the door and neither noticed me entering but from the looks of things—they have been going at it for at least 10 minutes. Both of their faces were filled with this unthinkable rage and from what I could see they had both gotten in a few good hits. Ranger pulled back his arm to lay a right hook on Lester and as loud as I could I yelled: "**STOP!**"

Their heads turned to see me for the first time since I got here and before they could think to resume I ran to them. Placing a hand on the center of both of their chests they didn't back down from their fighter stance.

"Please, don't fight!" I pleaded with them.

"Why, Stephanie!?" Ranger growled. "What, you run out of women to fuck in Jersey?"

"Don't act like you know _anything _about this. You bail on her for the last two years and she's just supposed to wait around for you to get your shit straightened out!" Lester yelled back; I could feel their hearts pounding under my hands—which I refused to take off of them. I knew if I was standing in the middle they wouldn't take a swing at each other, and risk hitting me.

"Did I say she couldn't be with anyone else—_NO_. But you want one thing from women and there is no way in hell I'm going to watch you use Stephanie like you use _them_." My head darted back and forth between them; but their eyes remained in a deathly stare down with each other.

"And what the hell makes you so sure I'm using, Stephanie! I would never use her—not that I can say the same about you." Ranger's glare turned murderous; I quickly placed both my hands on his chest and tried to push him away. I had about as much success as I would if I were pushing a brick wall.

"What the fuck are you trying to say?" Ranger seethed out through his clenched teeth.

"You think you're so damn special; you didn't have to give Stephanie a commitment to get her heart. And the Goddamn _second_ shit actually gets real and you find out she's going to have a baby—you leave! If I didn't know any better I'd think you were just using Stephanie."

"I would _never _use her! You are a piece of shit, Santos—you are _dead to me_. Do you hear me!?"

"Stop you guys!" My pleas fell on Deaf ears as they continued to stare each other down. That didn't stop me from trying (unsuccessfully) to push Ranger away.

"I hear you crystal clear, _cuz_. And don't worry; I'll keep taking care of your kid for you too." That sent Ranger over the edge.

I wasn't sure what exactly happened but I felt Ranger tense up; and suddenly Lester's hand yanked me behind him. Next thing I was no longer staring at Ranger's chest; but Lester's back as he stood tall and protective in front of me. I expected for them to start again so I grabbed hold of Lester's shirt but when I chanced a glance at Ranger; his expression was no longer murderous as he looked to me.

"Don't act like I was ever going to hurt her, Santos!"

Lester snickered with disgust. "As far as I'm concerned you already have."

I couldn't stand this anymore; there was no way I was going to let them tear each other limb from limb over me.

"Enough!" I stepped away from Lester to stare at them both. "This is my fault! Don't fight each other over me; it's not right!" I resisted looking into their eyes; but it was easy to tell their tensed up bodies had softened slightly.

"Steph." Lester whispered out; and I wondered if he couldn't sense what was coming. I put my hand up to stop him from stepping towards me.

"From this moment further I'm out—I won't be the reason for this ridiculous fight. And if you want to see Stella again you will knock off this teenager bullshit! I'm sorry for coming between you two; but I won't do that again."

The sound of someone clearing their throat by the door made us all turn to see Tank, Hal and Bobby.

"Christ, didn't I tell you guys to stay out of here!" Ranger yelled to them; well that explains why there wasn't anyone referring this fight.

"When it was just the two of you, we listened. If there was a chance of something happening to Bomber, well that changed things." Hal said, answering for all of them.

I could hear Ranger exhale an angry sigh. "Damnit, I would _never_ hurt her! I know how to control myself!"

"We know man." Bobby chimed in.

"But none of us knew what the issue was. Santos was in the control room and hung up the phone and immediately came down here." Tank said. "Next thing we see you fly down here and demand all of us to stay out, then you start throwing punches."

"Better safe than sorry." Bobby said apologetically to try and lighten the mood. Tank's phone went off; he put it to his ear and listened for a moment before hanging up.

"There's been a break-in; we need to go." Everyone looked to Ranger and Lester; one of them would have to go—but neither wanted to be the first to volunteer. Finally Ranger sighed and moved towards the door; no matter how furious he was—he wasn't about to let something happen to one of his accounts.

"Stay with Lester." Ranger barked at Bobby before exiting ahead of Tank and Hal.

Lester rolled his eyes. "Apparently we need a damn chaperone now." I looked at Les and noticed his lip was bleeding.

"Bobby will you grab the first aid kit, please?" I asked him; he hesitated to disobey Ranger's orders but his medic side kicked in, and he nodded before leaving. Lester and I started towards each other and met in the middle; he tried to pull me into his arms but I placed my hands on his chest.

"Why did you come down here to fight him, Les?"

"I'm not afraid of him, Stephanie. As soon as I got off the phone with you I knew he'd want to deck me; and if the situation was reversed I'd feel the same way as him."

"Les, I can't come between you guys."

His green eyes looked at me with a terror I had never before seen. "You're not." I gave him a weak smile and brushed my thumb across the cut on his lip.

"I already have."

"Stephanie, I can't just forget everything that has happened between us. I have never felt so strongly for anyone; and we _just_ started exploring a new side of our relationship. So that just tells me this is something amazing that I can't let go of. I'll fight for what I want; and I want you." The sting of tears threatened to leave my eyes so I kept my attention focused on everything—but his face.

"I'm sorry Lester. We can't do this right now."

Bobby walked back in the room and I released the hold I had on Lester's shirt. While Bobby prepared the antiseptic towel for Lester's cut the atmosphere was tense and uncomfortable. I wanted to just walk out but for some reason my feet were stuck in place.

"If you've got something to say Bobby, just say it." Lester said; trying to release some of the tension from the air.

"Don't get me started right now."

"Bobby, don't be mad at them please—it's my fault."

Lester clenched his fists at his side. "No Steph, it's not and I swear to God, Bobby, if you make her feel guilty for this—next time it will be me and you going a few rounds.

"I never said it was her fault; but how long has this been going on?"

I could see a part of Lester wanted to lie and make it seem like we'd been hiding it for a while. But he respected me too much to lie about that. "Nothing actually happened until the night we left the bar." Bobby sighed and shook his head.

"I knew it. Damn Les, how could you do this shit?"

Bobby was about to put the cloth on Lester's cut but Les quickly smacked his hand away. "Do _what shit!_ Goddamn, why do we all have to tiptoe around Ranger's feelings? _He _left _her_ and _we're_ the bad guys because we feel something for each other!"

"I didn't say that, man. It's the fact that you happened to fall for the one girl Ranger has ever loved. Tell me you're not naïve enough to believe he was just going to find out and give you his blessing."

Lester shrugged. "I don't need his approval."

"Lester, stop! Please, this is killing me thinking of how much I'm already coming between the two of you. I'm sorry but I just can't do this." I turned to leave but stopped when I saw Lester step around Bobby to come after me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me in for a kiss. Even with Bobby in the room there was lots of tongue and feeling that when I finally had the sense to pull away; my entire body felt dizzy with the intensity.

I placed my forehead on his chest. "I'm sorry, Les—but I just can't."

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

The entire drive home I was an emotional wreck; this wasn't what I wanted. My heart held a special place for both men; but everything tonight had my heart breaking apart. How was I supposed to be with one if it was going to hurt the other so damn bad! When I got home Jenny was stretched out on my couch watching "Wedding Planner". Good—just what I needed, a sappy romance movie.

"You look terrible, Stephanie." I sighed and immediately walked into the kitchen and pulled two beers out of the fridge.

Jenny sat up and I plopped down on the couch next to her and handed her a beer. "I _feel_ terrible."

"So what happened?"

"Just do yourself a favor and don't fall for two guys that work together; and are related."

Jenny let out a whistle. "That sounds like a lot of drama."

"Yeah, sure turned out to be."

"You know, I've seen 3 different guys come over to your place. And I don't know how you choose between them. All 3 are so damn hot!"

I let out a laugh. "Which one do you like the best?"

"Well," Jenny paused; took a sip of her beer and crossed her legs. "I've only seen the most recent guy come over like twice."

"That's Ranger, Stella's dad."

The corner of Jenny's lip pulled into a smile. "That girl has some _damn_ good genes." We both let out a laugh, and I nodded in agreement. "So then there's Italian one that always shows up with take out or donuts."

"That's Joe."

"He is _damn_ sexy; I mean I've obviously seen his face plenty of times. But I usually get a clear view of his ass when I stick my head out the door. Whooweee, that man has the best ass I've ever seen."

"Oh yeah, he's famous for it."

"I am _not _surprised there; then there's the other one that is over _all _the time."

"That's Lester."

"Okay, well me personally I'd go with Joe because man—that _ass!_" Jenny made a motion to fan herself down and I couldn't help but laugh. "But for you; I always thought you were with Lester."

"Because he's here all the time?" I asked her and she shook her head.

"Because the two of you always look so damn happy; you really fit well together. But then again, I haven't seen you enough with Ranger to know if that'd be a better match." Yeah well, I wish _I_ knew who was the better match.

"So I didn't realize how much time you spend spying on me, Jenny!" We both laughed.

"I have just learned that they always take the steps and wear some type of boots that makes a fuckin' racket coming up. So, that is like my 30 second warning that I get to check out one of your very sexy men. I can only hope that my sex partners are as good looking as yours."

"I've only had sex with one of them since I've moved in here."

Jenny smiled again. "And how many of those three have you been with; before you moved in here."

I sighed and shook my head. "All of them."

"Teach me your ways!" We both started laughing again but stopped when my phone rang—it was Ranger.

"Answer it!" Jenny said; clearly in need of some entertainment—this poor girl needed cable or something!

"Hello?"

"I'm in the parking lot; please talk to me."

"Ranger, I don't want to fight."

"We're not going to. I just need to say something." I put my hand over the speaker and looked to Jenny.

"Do you mind staying in here for a few more minutes?"

"Absolutely not!" I rolled my eyes with a smile.

"Okay—I'll be down in a second." I hung up the phone and slipped my shoes back on and went out to meet Ranger.

Ranger was leaning against the side of the car when I got outside; and once again I regretted my decision not to change into pants. He obviously felt the same way since he opened up the passenger door for me and when he got into his side of the car—turned the heat on.

"I need to clear something up." I remained quiet for him to continue. "I didn't expect you to remain single and wait for me while I was gone. What infuriates me is that the person you choose to be with is my cousin. I knew you two were friends; and especially considering the fact that he is related to Estella—I assumed he would spend time with you. But never did I think the two of you would get together."

"Ranger we didn't plan it; it just happened."

His hands gripped tightly around the steering wheel. "I'm not just going to step aside and let you two be together. I'm under no illusion I can control you; so I don't expect to tell you not to see him anymore. Just know that I'm not giving up on us, Stephanie. I made some terrible decisions where our family was concerned; but know I won't stop trying until I think there is no more hope for us."

"I meant what I said tonight; I'm not coming between the two of you anymore."

"I believe you, Stephanie; but I'm hoping someday you will change your mind and reconsider giving me another chance. I know I don't deserve it, but I'm still hoping for it."

My mind was emotionally exhausted—there was no way I could continue to have these conversations tonight. "We'll talk later okay—but right now I just want to go to bed."

"Thank you for coming out to talk to me." I looked over at him and noticed that he had a bruise forming around his eyebrow. My fingers reached out and gently stoked the sore area of his face.

"Please don't fight with Lester anymore."

"No guarantees, Babe." I moved to take my hand away and he grabbed it in his and placed a kiss on my fingers before releasing me.

When I got back upstairs Jenny had a new beer opened and waiting for me; I was definitely going to need it.

.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: JE's characters—my version.**

**Author's Note: **I am **_so sorry_** it has been so long for me to update! I have absolutely missed you guys! Donnnnn't be mad at me! I updated my FF profile so if you wanna know what's grabbing my attention—check that out for more dets. I'd tell you here; but I feel I have kept you all waiting long enough… Enjoy!

Chapter Eight

It has been a week since the awful fight between Lester and Ranger. They both continued to call and text me but I avoided them both as best as possible. I didn't want to be _that girl_; the girl that rips a family apart, because I fool around and don't _truly_ know what I want. Maybe I should have been thinking about it more; but I stayed as busy as possible. And when I wasn't working and Stella was sleeping, or with my family—I was with Jenny. Sometimes it felt like our minds were a world apart—but not really. Jenny openly adored drama and gossip; we were walking around the mall one day and she stopped dead and stared at something. When I looked it was a teen couple going through this very public, very _dramatic_ break-up and when I looked to see if Jenny was _seriously_ going to watch this. The smile on her face gave me my answer; and her enthusiasm was contagious and before I knew it we were munching on our bag of caramel corn watching the show.

At least with Jenny I didn't have to think of my own drama; she was loaded with gossip about people I didn't know. But that didn't stop me from following along like a fly chasing after a piece of cake. _Shit—_forget the fly, I'd chase after the piece of cake even though I knew how bad it was for me. Her stories made me convinced she needed to produce the next Soap Opera—which I would shamelessly watch. She didn't ask much about the men in my life but always sent me a "THANK YOU" text when I would inform her Joe Morelli was on his way over with Pino's. And every time I opened the door to him; I could see her sneaking a peek and mouth stuff to me like, "_Oh my Gawd"_. I invited her over to join us, but she always declined.

Monday morning I received a call from Connie at Plum Bail Bonds; begging me to come in. This _had to be good_. Not that I was worried about word getting around about the battle between two (more) alpha males fighting over me. The fight thankfully happened in front of men that knew if they told _anyone_ about what they witnessed—there would be an extreme price to pay.

"You want me to what!" I yelled to Connie as she worked on filing her flawless nails.

"Please, Stephanie—it would only be for a month."

"A month!" My voice level rose again. "Why don't you hire someone else? What about Lula!"

Connie rolled her brown eyes and stopped filing her nails to look up at me. "I told you, Lula broke her leg in like 4 different places chasing down a skip. The doc told her she needed to stay out of work for at least a month."

"So you want me to fill in for her?" This was unbelievable—I was _fired_ from this job; a job that no matter how crummy it was—I loved. Now I was being asked to bail Vinnie out—through Connie of all people. What a _weasel!_ "Why don't you get Ranger to do them?"

"Pssh; you know he only does the high bond FTAs. If they're bringing in anything less than 10 thousand bucks he won't even look at the file. Sounds like a damn _diva_ if you ask me!"

"Why doesn't Vinnie get off his and get them himself!" Suddenly Vinnie's door flew open and he stuck his unattractive weasel-looking face out at me.

"I heard that! Where's your family loyalty huh?" I crossed my arms over my chest and glared down at him.

"Family loyalty?" I spit out through clenched teeth. "You **_fired me_** because you were too big of a pussy to stand up for ME!"

"You're not seriously still on about that shit are you? I'm bringing you back—that should say something."

"Yeah—that _you_ need _me_ to bail out _your_ bail bond company. Besides, I have a child now—running after skips that firebomb my apartment and blow up my car doesn't sound very appealing anymore."

Vinnie crossed his arms over his chest to mimic my action, and rolled his eyes. "Ha—like you're going to be doing this alone."

"Well it sounds like all you have is me and Ra…." I paused and my eyes narrowed at him.

"That's why you asked me—isn't it? Because you think Ranger's going to send his guys out to cover my ass?"

"Of course he's going to—that guy has always dropped all his shit to bail you out. Now, you're the mother of his child, and I'm in a tough spot. SO I'm going to exploit the hell out of the situation!"

"First of all—he is _not_ going to send people out after me. Secondly—times have changed, I've hardly talked to the guy in the past two years. And third—Stella isn't going to be riding around with me and shit so he would have no reason whatsoever to waste their time chasing me down when they have their own business to run."

"You bet your ass he will—and I am in the serious red here. I need these skips caught even with Lula fully operational nothing was getting done."

I continued to eye him down but truth was I was really considering it. Don't get me wrong I actually loved my job now but I really did miss this job. It was awful hours, had an _awful_ owner. Rolling around in trash on a daily basis sucked, having my car stolen and blown up really _sucked_. But it still suited me. Why the hell should I care what Ranger thinks; and I knew I certainly didn't want to take this job to bail Vinnie out. But—I think from the first second Connie told me about the temporary job offer, I knew I was going to take it. Now—to make Vinnie's life just a _little_ bit harder.

"IF I took this job, I'd have to leave the restaurant. And I have a child to support, plus everything else now that requires a steady income. So the only way I'll work for you is if—along with the money I get for skips—you pay me Lula's wages too for her filing job."

Vinnie rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Absolutely _not_, I'm in the goddamn hole here—I'm not about to pay you _more_ money! Besides, I'm not paying you for a job that your ass isn't even doing."

"Oh, I'll still do the job. Don't worry I'll sit around, do my nails, gossip, eat and complain—just like Lula." I had nothing against Lula, and I didn't care that her job was sort of a joke. But I was pissed at Vinnie and might as well point out the honest truth here.

"No."

"Then you're on your own." I turned to leave and before I even took two steps out, I was stopped.

"FINE! But I will fire you so fast if you aren't bringing in these skips!" Vinnie slammed his door shut and I turned to Connie; both of us had big ass grins on our faces.

"Let me get you some files here of the skips Vinnie is about to lose his money on." Connie dug around in her cabinet and I took a seat in the chair across from her.

"So is Lula going to be alright?"

Connie rolled her eyes. "She'll be fine, totally playing up the helpless victim card. Do you know how that girl broke her leg?" She asked me and I shook my head no.

"The FTA reached into the front seat of her car and stole her bakery bag filled with donuts. She took off running after him, I saw since it happened right in front of the office here. Anyways—I have never seen her run that fast; pretty sure she tackled him and it obviously didn't go well. She was more pissed about the smushed bag of donuts than her broken leg."

I couldn't help but let out a laugh at that story—definitely sounded like Lula there. Connie handed me a pretty hefty stack of files. In the same moment I felt overwhelmed—and beyond excited to get back at it. I flipped open a couple, paying more attention to the amount that would end up in my pocket than what they did.

"So what's been going on with you and Lester?" My eyes shot up from the FTA file I was reading and I stared at her waiting for some sign that she knew my _secret_.

"Why—what'd you hear?" Immediately I knew my mistake, Connie didn't know what happened with us…at least until _now_ she didn't. Her heavy mascara-loaded lashes narrowed at me and a smirk sat on her lips.

With her elbows resting on the desk she laced her fingers together and rested her chin on top of them, leaning closer to me. "What is there to hear…that you clearly didn't want me to hear?"

I tried to smile and wave if off as nothing—but Connie wasn't buying it. "It's nothing, people just always get the wrong idea about us."

"Mhmm….something's telling me they're _not_ getting the wrong idea anymore."

Before I could say anything else Vinnie's door flew open again; the grin on his face told us he had been listening.

"Connie, you know damn well if anything happened with Stephanie and that guy, Ranger would personally take care of him—if you know what I mean. And I just saw that dude this morning; he wouldn't be walking around—let alone breathing if he hooked up with this one." He said pointing at me. I didn't feel the need to correct him that they _tried_ killing each other; they just weren't successful. Connie was immediately busy scrounging around her desk looking for something.

"Damnit Vinnie! Where the hell is it _this time!_" I took this as my opportunity to say goodbye and leave those two to deal with each other.

When I hopped in my car I decided to resume reading the file I was looking through before being blindsided with Connie's question. This one was a perfect place to start—okay, not really—but he was worth $2000 bucks so that was a good enough start for me. A little cash incentive to give the job rolling once more!

The FTA's name was Jeffery Williams; he's 26, weighs about 400 pounds and according to this 'armed and dangerous'. Super. Jeffery was arrested after robbing a store shooting the clerk in the leg; then going home and beating the piss out of his girlfriend. Oh goody—this will be a fun way to start the week…or not. There was a teeny tiny voice in my mind saying, "_Are you stupid, Stephanie Plum! Do you remember how terrible you were at this job! You got the money to keep replacing your cars when they inevitably get blown to smithereens?_" But that voice was more of an annoying buzz in my ear; even if I'm sure it was _supposed to be_ my 'voice of reason'. Oh well—I never really listened to that in the past; why start now!

Jeffery lived in a dumpy ass house that looked like it should have been condemned about 3 years ago. I got out of my car and stepped over the scattered trash and beer bottles on the walkway up to the front porch. Even just the porch smelt moldy and in serious need of a good cleaning; I chose _not_ to examine that part too closely. I knocked a couple times and when there was no answer I waited a minute before knocking again.

The door yanked open, and I knew immediately by the sheer size of this guy that I had the right house.

"Jeffery Williams?" I asked with a smile. He furrowed his brows together and looked me up and down. Deciding whether I was a threat—or a gift—gross.

"I'm Stephanie Plum, I work for your bond agent. You missed your court appearance so why don't you come with me and we'll get you a new one."

Did I actually expect this to work—hell no. Was I still going to try and _hope_ that maybe this guy really did _just forget_ his court date—damn skippy. He rolled his beady eyes around in his ginormous dome of a head.

"I ain't goin' wit you, bitch." I opened my mouth to speak again but Jeffery immediately slammed the door in my face. I rolled my eyes and pounded on his door once more. After a few seconds the door flew open and before I realized what I was staring at I heard a gunshot. The gun was pointing down towards my foot and in the porch about 2 inches from my foot I saw a bullet hole. Today I was wearing a black v-neck shirt, and a pair of well-fitting jeans—none of which I really cared if I lost. However, I was wearing my favorite black Pumas and this over-sized Pillsbury Doughboy almost _ruined _my damn shoes! Okay—I suppose it would have screwed up my foot too—but that could be fixed.

"Oh _hell no!_ You almost shot my shoe!" Jeffery's furry eyebrow rose as he shot me a bewildered look that it was my shoe—not foot—I was concerned about. "I am NOT in the mood for _this _shit today!" I yelled to him, pointing my finger at him like a mother scolding her child. "Now get your damn shoes on and come with me to the police station!"

"No fuckin' way, bitch!" He barreled through the door towards me, elbowing me to the ground of the disgusting porch as he took off running down the street. Being that he was 400 pounds (okay probably not _that _much—but close enough) he didn't get very far before I was right on his tale. We were reaching a dead end of the street that was lined with bushes that looked extremely uncomfortable to run through. I decided to act before we got too close to them; so with a quick leap I wrapped my arms around his neck as I hung off his back.

"What the—" He yelled; apparently he didn't expect that move. Unfortunately—the shock made him trip over his own damn feet and I somehow managed to get whipped around to the front and went down backwards into the bushes. At least I was right about one thing—they were extremely uncomfortable to roll around in. I could feel the twigs and branches scraping every inch of my body—but now I was pissed and determined to apprehend this shit head.

Jeffery had landed on top of me and was quickly trying to pull himself off of me and take off running again. I quickly wrapped my legs around his legs to keep him there. I wasn't exactly sure what I expected to happen from here since my pepper spray, cuffs and stun gun were in my purse—which happened to be safely stowed away in my car. But I was too pissed off to just let him get away now.

We struggled against each other, and the sting of the branches. I was at a serious disadvantage here because the curly hair I had always loved; was tangled in just about every branch within a foot of me. I had a faint idea that I probably resembled Medusa right now—but I wasn't going to give up. Unfortunately the fact that Jeffery was, well—huge—he gave one quick shove backwards against my legs and I couldn't hold on any longer. Jeffery took off running and I quickly tried to detangle myself to chase after him. Before I could get more than two steps out of the bushes I crashed into something and stumbled backwards. A hand reached out to grab me and I looked up surprised I hadn't noticed someone standing there, not just any someone though—it was Ranger.

"Babe."

There was a faint smile at the corner of his lips, and amusement danced about his eyes as he took in my appearance. Hair a mess, little cuts all over my arms neck and chest—not to mention holes in my shirt and jeans. He reached out and pulled a twig from my hair and pitched it behind me back to where it belonged.

"So you are either back working for Vinne; or I was wrong and you _could_ do worse than Lester." I rolled my eyes at him and bent in half, placing my hands on my knees to catch my breath.

"Funny." I muttered out. I was seriously out of shape—well out of chasing down and wresting with FTA-shape. I could stand for 10 hours a day and run around a restaurant with a tray filled with food and drinks balanced on my hand. But this was different.

After a minute or two I stood back up straight and looked past Ranger to see Tank and Cal cuffing Jeffery and sticking him into the back of their SUV. Damn—Vinnie's plan was already working. Just my mere presence gave Ranger enough reason to resume this ridiculous babysitting charade.

"You know by helping me you're doing exactly what Vinnie expects you to."

Ranger's mouth twitched up a little. "I always knew I hated that guy."

"Why are you here!" I demanded; sticking my hands on my hips.

"Connie called." Something told me that was bullshit.

"Uh-huh, sure." Ranger turned to yell to Tank over his shoulder. "Bring Mr. Williams in and get the body receipt for Steph."

"No way! I can take care of this on my own!" Ranger turned to face me but his face didn't give anything away.

"I'd like a word with you."

"Hmph." I crossed my arms over my chest and watched as Tank and Cal drove my FTA away.

"Why are you working for Vinnie again?"

"Lula broke her leg chasing down this FTA who stole her donuts and now she can't work for the next month." Ranger's mouth twitched a little as he thought about smiling. "They have no one else to take her place; Vinnie's in the red—you only take high bond FTAs. By hiring me not only do I work on these guys; but this is Vinnie's way to be sure I don't fuck it up; because he is convinced you'll always have someone there to do my job."

"Babe. They're not there to do your job; they're there to protect you."

"Cripes Ranger! I don't need protection. I'm a grown woman and a mother. So if you think you can just go back to Vinnie and threaten _MY_ job—think again. You can't dictate what I do; and you certainly can't put your guys on 'Stephanie watch' anymore. This is my decision and _my life_."

"Yes well, your life means more to me than my own life. Not only that but you are the mother of my child and I'm not just going to stand back and watch you get mauled and shot at; and risk something happening to you leaving Estella without you."

I softened slightly with his words; but I made sure to keep my face and tone serious and angry.

"You are allowed to care and worry about Stella. You don't have the right to do that about me. I'm not your property Ranger. This is my job now and I'm not going to just back down because you don't like it. I love this stupid job and I realize my attempts to take down someone is purely just amusement for you and your men—but I'm not your entertainment. I don't want people following me around. I don't want my cars, purse, shoes, WHATEVER, being tracked and I don't want to be awarded countless cars. Especially for nothing more than a gambling relief from _their jobs_; I realize I'm a big joke to you guys—but this is _my life_."

I could see there was a subtle amount of shock in Ranger's expression. He clearly wasn't expecting my speech—and truth be told—neither was I. But I meant every word of it—and before I knew it, I found myself continuing.

"You are welcome to protect your daughter. But you will inform me of how and when you will be keeping her safe. But you do _not_ have my permission to track me or protect me like I'm your damn _property_." The word 'property' felt like a sour taste in my mouth. At first Ranger didn't respond so I stepped to walk around him, but he quickly grabbed my arm to stop me.

"I will update you on my plan's for Stella's safety. As for my men and their pools on your car-exploding habits; if I hear anything about it I will personally make sure they know _not_ to do that again. They don't see you as a joke; everyone I know cares for you and worries about you—but I will make certain they don't make you feel like you are purely there for amusement purposes. As for me—I love you, Stephanie, and while I will try to tone down my methods to protect you—I can't promise you more. You may not love me back, at least right now, but you don't realize how much you mean to me." Ranger pulled my arm so I was standing in front of him as he continued. Despite my frustration and humiliation; his words pierced through me and my heart was doing a round of back flips.

"I will never stop protecting you; not because I don't think you can take of yourself. But because I would die if something happened to you." His fingers were soft as he caressed my cheeks and he leaned down towards me and placed a soft and innocent kiss on my lips.

"Go get cleaned up and don't hesitate to call if you would like assistance."

With that Ranger was gone; leaving me standing there dumb-struck.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: JE's characters—my version.**

**Author's Note:** I am _so so sorry_ it has been so long! The first couple weeks have been intense for this semester… Plus I have been house hunting with some friends. So _lots_ going on—but I promise you, I have not forgotten about all of you! Please forgive me—and enjoy my chapter =] As always, I'd love to hear what you think! .

Chapter Nine

Once I was finally able to think straight after Ranger left me standing in the road looking like a fool; I immediately headed home to shower and change. The shower didn't feel nearly as good as I hoped; the little cuts on my skin stung slightly under the heat of the water. I continued to turn the temperature down but by the time the water was no longer bothering my cuts—it was also freezing. So I turned it back up to above freezing and hurried the rest of my shower up. I dried off and wrapped myself in my robe and left the steamy bathroom.

"Christ!" I yelled and jumped back when I saw someone sitting on my couch. Lester started laughing and I couldn't help but smile. It had been a week since I saw him and I had really missed seeing him sitting in my apartment like before. Today he was suited up in his all black RangeMan gear and held up a small tube of something; a cautious smile reached his lips.

"Ranger told Bobby you may need something for a cut; I happened to hear about it and told Bobby I'd bring it over for you."

Even though I smiled to him I couldn't help but feel bad. One of the most important people in my life needed to use something like this as an excuse to see me. All because I stopped answering their calls for a while—I couldn't do that anymore.

"Thanks Les." I walked to him and reached out to grab the tube and he snatched it back.

"I haven't seen you in forever, Steph, let me help—and we can talk."

I wasn't terribly in the mood to get into another "talk" about anything at the moment. Lester shrugged his shoulders; trying to appear more casual than I could see he was feeling.

"Just about life…I've missed seeing you and _hell_ I've missed just talking to you. I get that you don't want to come between Ranger and I but you can't just drop out of my life completely." Lester paused for a beat; and I could tell this was hurting him more than I ever imagined it could. "You're my best friend, Steph—I can't lose you."

I wanted to say it back; I had missed Lester so much I felt like I was going nuts. I'd been spending more time with Morelli lately and while I loved our time together—he still wasn't Les. But saying all this to him right now seemed beyond unfair. I was the one telling him I needed space from the two of them. Since I couldn't say the words I needed _and_ wanted to; I sat down on the couch and wrapped my arms around his neck. It took him mere moments before his arms were around my waist squeezing me tight while his face was buried in my still damp hair.

I wasn't sure how long we sat like that; but I knew neither of us wanted to pull away. Lester reluctantly loosened his grip and pressed his forehead against mine; his green eyes bore into my blue ones.

"Promise me that no matter what I can at least be a part of your life. I'm going to lose my mind if I never get my best friend back and lose my baby Stella in the process."

My hand brushed the side of his face. "You'll never lose us, Les. I promise." His eyes locked with mine and his lips began their descent towards mine. A week with no contact from either and now in the same day they both kiss me.

Lester quickly backed away from me his eyes were no longer soft; but instead they were filled with an emerald fire. "What!" He snarled out.

_Shit…_ "That was outloud?"

"He _kissed _you!" Lester stood up; his hands balled into fists at his sides. Last time one of these alpha males was in my apartment it led to an awful fight. This time I had every intention to prevent that from happening. I quickly stood and placed my hands on Lester's tensed up shoulders.

"It was really more of a peck. I swear it's not like we've been making out in the alley or something."

"Wouldn't be the first time." Lester spit out; my face contorted with guilt knowing this was true. Lester immediately realized his mistake and softened once more pulling me back into his arms.

"I'm sorry, Steph."

"No, you're right—it's not like where Ranger is concerned I've always stood up to him."

Lester shook his head in my hair. "That was a mean thing to say though; it's just…hard enough to think I can't have you for now at least. But it is even harder to think that he's still playing at his old game with you. It bugged me before when he'd poach in your relationship with Morelli, because you absolutely deserved more than that. Now though, it is just tearing me apart."

I squeezed him even tighter. "It didn't mean anything, Les. It really was just a simple peck." Lester removed his face from my hair and when he looked at me I saw his eyes had darkened with a look of lust that made my entire body shake. Before I could react his lips were pressed against mine with force; even though the action was rough, his touch was anything but. The voice in the back of my mind tried to get me to pull away but his lips felt incredible against mine. One hand moved to frame my face while the other pressed into my lower back and brought me closer to his body. I felt my lips move with his and after a few more blissful seconds we both pulled away. The desire in his eyes had only grown, as did the smile on his face.

"I just wanted you to know that any kiss with you means something to me." I couldn't help but smile back.

"Well come on, Beautiful—let's get this stuff on those cuts before I get called away."

My head was still woozy from the kiss but I followed him back to my couch and let him dab the cream on my sore skin. We didn't mention the kiss or Ranger again; instead I filled him in on Stella's newest habits. The love and interest was clearly visible in Lester when we talked about her, and I promised they could see each other again soon. I had no doubt that my Stella Bee missed her _'Es_—I know I certainly have.

Lester finished with my last cut and his cell phone went off the same time there was a knock at my door. Les stepped into my kitchen to answer the call while I grabbed the door: it was Jenny. I glanced behind me at the clock it was 3 o'clock—I was surprised to see her out and about.

"I'm _sooo bored_." She said stepping inside my apartment. "You want to go out or something?"

"Well actually…" I figured I'd mention my skips, but Les stepped into view; making this scene look less innocent than it was.

"Oh!" Jenny's bored eyes quickly lit up. "I see you are _already_ doing something." I rolled my eyes at her.

"Jenny this is Lester, Lester this is my neighbor Jenny." Lester flashed her a smile that made me check Jenny to make sure she wasn't drooling.

"Nice to meet you, Sweetie." Les said, as he stood beside me and slung his arm around my shoulders.

"I actually started doing that bounty hunter thing again; would you wanna ride along?" I asked Jenny and she practically starting jumping with excitement.

"Hells yes!" Lester let out a chuckle.

"Well, you ladies be safe. That was the office and Hitler has decided to send me on the opposite end of town from your place." I didn't bother asking who Lester was referring to as 'Hitler', I was pretty positive I knew already.

"Okay, be safe, and thanks for helping take care of the cuts." Lester turned towards me and pressed his lips to the top of my head.

"No problem, and don't forget to call me later so I can see my baby girl again."

"I will." Lester placed one more kiss on my forehead.

"See ya, Beautiful." On his way out he tugged on Jenny's side braid and with a smile said: "Nice to meet you, Sweetie."

He shut the door behind him as he left and Jenny looked over at me with her jaw stuck in a wide open position. "Is it possible to have goosebumps everywhere just from having him touch my hair?"

I smiled knowingly and nodded. "It sure is. Just give me a sec to get changed and we'll head out."

"Okay." Jenny whispered out; still in shock from an encounter with one of the best looking men on the East Coast.

The first couple skips' homes we tried were duds and since I had quite a few to choose from I decided to move down the list. I didn't want to spend hours even days chasing after a single guy with this many still out there. The next FTA's house we went to I saw he was bonded out for shooting a few guys in the legs before robbing them—_lovely_. The guy's name was Allen Paulson; Allen is 25 and he is 5'7 like me and in his mug shot I wouldn't be surprised if he had his own 'grow room' in his living room.

Jenny stood behind me holding my pepper spray as I knocked on the door. The door flew open and the smell of marijuana smacked me in the face. I'd be lucky to leave this place _without_ a contact high.

"My name's Stephanie Plum, I work for your bond agent—you missed your court appearance."

Allen smacked his forehead with his palm and shook his head laughing. Jenny let out a giggle and I wondered if it was because the smell was getting to her too. "Shit—I knew that was coming up. What do I gotta do?"

"Real simple, I'll take you to the police station now to reschedule."

"Good deal!" Allen opened the door wide for us to enter into his small apartment. "Just gotta find my keys."

"We'll be giving you a lift." I said, hoping to leave the apartment as fast as possible. Every time I breathed in I felt the marijuana invading my body; but I wasn't mad—but I was sure this was because of the sudden giddiness. I bit my lip to try and choke back a random laugh that was trying to escape. My eyes darted over to Jenny and she was nearly in tears with her silent giggles.

"I figured as much, but I gotta lock up my apartment. I got stuff in here I don't want stolen."

Jenny laughed out loud. "Some good stuff it smells like too."

Allen's face lit up at Jenny's comment. "You like it?" He asked with a Cheshire cat size grin that made caused a snort of laughter to escape from me.

"Apparently." Jenny said with another laugh; I felt comfortable saying I knew Jenny well. Jenny was _not_ a smoker—so her tolerance for it was not the best. _Not _that mine seemed to be any better.

"Come here! Let me show the buds they're beautiful." Allen grabbed Jenny's arm and pulled her down the hall to his bathroom. I followed behind them, not that I was interested in _beautiful buds_ but my legs followed after Jenny of their own accord.

"Alright it's a small bathroom so go in and peek into the tub—that's where they are." Jenny walked in without hesitation to look over the 70s style looking tub. The need-to-know everything side of me decided I wanted to see them too. I followed her into the bathroom and peered over the edge of the tub. Other than the obvious signs it needed a _complete_ deep clean—there was nothing else. I turned around in what felt like slow motion and saw the door slam closed. I hurried to the door and tried to open it but the door didn't budge. The sound of something scraping across the floor was followed by something shoving against the door.

The bathroom door was one that swung out; and I quickly realized by the lack of give that something heavy was on the other side of the door.

"Open this door, dammit!" I yelled; kicking pointlessly against it. Jenny was sitting on the toilet seat and looked mortified.

"Stupid bitches—you really think I'm just going to give in _that_ easily?" Allen's footsteps became faint as I assumed he walked away from the door. I started yelling for him to open the door but seconds later the sound of some war game filled the apartment. The volume was turned about as high as it could go and I knew there was no point wasting my breath trying to get his attention now.

On the other side of the tub was a decent sized window—which looking promising enough to crawl out of. If only there was something to grab hold of. I hopped in the tub and pulled the window open; looking down I saw an older looking fire escape. A little rusty—but sturdy enough for us to get out of her. Before telling Jenny the plan I let the fresh-weed-free air blow against my face, and hopefully sober me up a little.

"Come here, Jenny." She did as I asked and looked outside then shot me a dubious look.

"I'd rather sit in this bathroom, Steph."

"It'll be fine—I promise I've had to do stuff like this more times than I can count."

"And nothing bad ever happened?"

Yes. "No!" She shrugged her shoulders.

"Okay—tell me what to do."

"You'll go out first, and then walk to the left that will be the more stable side. I'll come out and I'll lead us down okay?"

Jenny nodded and used my hand to help her out the window. She did as I instructed and grabbed hold of the bars of the fire escape above her for balance. I followed Jenny out and took a step to the right to start going down when a loud boom came out. The landing we were on suddenly tilted and the side Jenny was on at least stayed stable enough for her. I however lost my balance, slipped and began sliding down the slanted landing. My hands quickly grabbed hold of the bars before I fell 4 stories to the pavement. Jenny let out a loud scream and I tried to pull myself up to see her and calm her down. My upper body strength was _not_ about to let that happen though.

"It's going to be okay! I'll get us down!" I called to her; hoping my voice was more confident than I was feeling. Shit I did _not_ miss this part of the job.

I was trying really hard to not think too hard about dangling over the cement with weak arms holding on, but the sound of someone chuckling below me caught my attention. I tried to see who it was but before I could see, they spoke up.

"Having fun, Cupcake?" I rolled my eyes.

"If I had a free hand I'd flip you the bird."

"Raincheck." He called, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

"You gonna help me or what!" I angled my head enough to see him. The good-looking shit was standing with his hands on his hips and a smile taking up over half his face.

"I put in a call to your freaky body guards; they're on their way." _Great_—this was not turning out to be the day I hoped for.

"What are you doing here, Morelli!" I yelled; angry that he was just standing there smiling.

"The guy whose bathroom you are hanging out of called and said there was a break-in. Well, I was in the area and had a suspicion it was you—so I called Ranger."

"Great."

"Seriously though, Steph—you guys okay?"

"We'll be fine, just as long as they hurry."

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault!" Jenny sobbed out.

"Don't feel bad Jenny." Joe called out to her. "I promise it was nothing you did—you just happen to be with the Queen of disastrous situations. There really was no way to avoid this one other than to stay home today."

"Shut it, Morelli!"

Joe laughed out again. "Love you, Cupcake." I tried to stay mad but couldn't help but smile. Then I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw two big black SUV's pull up. One pulled up directly below my feet and even though there was still a good distance below I felt much more comfortable. Especially since my fingers were slipping; Tank and Bobby exited the SUV seconds before I let my fingers give way and drop with a crash to the roof. It was definitely _not_ the most comfortable thing to land on—but not the worse either. Tank helped pull me off the roof and set me down on my feet. Seconds later Ranger was standing next to me with his arms wrapped around my shoulders; I leaned into him for support—my back and legs were screaming for me to lie down.

"Jenny's still up there. Allen Paulson is an FTA, he locked us in the bathroom." Ranger nodded and looked to Tank—he nodded in silent agreement and Ranger walked off. Tank opened the backseat of the SUV and helped me in to lie on my stomach.

"I'm just going to make sure you didn't break anything, Steph okay?" Bobby asked from behind me.

"Mhmm." I muttered out, closing my eyes. His hands were gentle as they examined my legs and I opened my eyes when I felt hands on my head. I looked up to see Joe squatting in front of me so we were eye level.

"Working at the bonds office again?"

"Sure am."

"Jesus Cupcake, you know how to scare the shit out of me."

"Sorry." I mumbled out.

Joe pressed his lips to my forehead. "I need to head out. Will you please be careful?" He looked worried and I tried to work a smile up to the surface.

"Yes!" He ruffled my hair then walked away.

"Everything feels fine, Bomber. But you need to go home and rest the remainder of the evening at least!"

"Don't have to tell me twice, Bobby." He gave my leg a sympathetic squeeze before I heard him walk away. My eyes were only shut for another second before I heard another familiar voice call out to me.

"Beautiful!" I heard Lester's footsteps approach at a quick pace. He resumed the position Joe had been in seconds before. Les didn't hesitate to shower my face with small kisses. My eyelids, cheeks, nose, everywhere—but my lips.

"I heard the guys were coming to help you—I flew over here to check on you."

"I'm okay." I sat up and Lester shifted into the backseat with me and wrapped his arms around me; pulling me into him to use him as my pillow.

We didn't say anything; we just sat there together in silence, as his thumb rubbed softly against my arm.

"Stephanie!" I heard Jenny's voice call to me; I shifted out of the car and Jenny caught sight of me and threw her arms around me. Lester had followed me out of the backseat and was now standing next to me, with his arm around my waist.

"I'm sorry Jenny—I should have known better than to drag you into this with me." Jenny's cheeks were tear-stained, making me feel worse.

"It's okay—can we go home now?"

Before I could answer I looked up to see Ranger standing next to Jenny; his eyes looked to be shooting lasers at Lester's arm that was around me still.

"Did you get him?" I asked and Ranger's eyes left Lester's arm and met mine.

"Yes."

"How?"

His lips twitched a little. "He lost his game and was bored."

"Unbelievable." I said throwing my arms up and letting them hit my thighs.

"Tank will escort him downtown; Bobby recommended you shouldn't drive right now."

"But I have to get Stella."

"I can have one of my men give Jenny a ride home. Another can drive your car back to the house. I brought the other SUV that has the car seat; so we can go pick _our_ daughter." Ranger made sure to glare at Lester so he didn't miss a hint of what Ranger was saying. Lester tensed up next to me and I knew another fight would break out if I didn't diffuse it now.

"Les, will you please take Jenny home?" He glared at Ranger for another minute before returning his eyes to me. They instantly softened as he looked at me and he nodded.

"Of course."

Lester leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead before releasing me. "Come on, Jenny." Lester held out his hand and Jenny took it; and I was glad she too would have someone to comfort her. Ranger was still glaring after Lester as he walked away.

"Will you two ever just stop this?" I asked him; pulling him out of his unsafe thoughts.

"Once he stops putting his hands on you, I will." I sighed and rolled my eyes—no point getting into this again.

We got Stella and when the three of us arrived back to my house Ranger drew a bath for me. While I soaked in the tub Ranger stayed and played with his daughter; the sounds of her giggling filled the apartment. There were even a couple times I heard him laugh; and I couldn't be mad for the foolish fighting. Not when the beautiful sound of my happy daughter rang through my apartment.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: JE's characters—My version**

**Author's Note:** Well HELLOOOOOOO! Long time no talk! ((Sorry, sorry, sorry!)) I really appreciate those of you checking in on me and all the patience you have given me! Greatly appreciated! But I promise—You all have been missed…. SO much! In the past few weeks or so I have been packing/moving/unpacking/homework/sleeping(sorta) ….I have been exhausted! But all is great! And I hope to get back to a more normal schedule of FF writing! So please enjoy my first chapter back!

Oh and whenever I update a chapter for some reason the word count is always like less than half of the actual amount of words in the story. I will never upload a chapter less than 1700 words, so just know that.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

Chapter Ten:

It has been a couple weeks since my disastrous attempt to bring in my FTA with the help of Jenny. Needless to say she hasn't been bored enough yet to go on another trip with me. I haven't blown up a car yet and there are no crazy stalkers after me… yet, so I would say I've been a success. Well at least in this department of my life, the men in my life have been a totally different story unfortunately. Lester and Ranger haven't changed much in trying to both be there for my Stella and prove they are the best man for me. Morelli is loving the way things are now for these guys; mainly I'm sure because he isn't a part of it. Since he is the only one of the men in my life I can hang out with right now without worrying about making a move on me, he has been around the most. BUT I am proud to report I have not been having random make out sessions with any guy which for me—is a huge step. So I suppose for the most part my life has been relatively normal (for me) there of course was one piece still bothering me.

Since my hook up with Lester I have been avoiding Celia; not because I don't want to see her, but I feel like she would be so angry. That I singlehandedly came between her family, especially when she was so pulling for me to get back together with her brother. But I missed her so much, Celia was absolutely my closest friend and now here I am dodging her phone calls and texts. Which I was having success with, until tonight that is. It was 8 o'clock and I had just put Stella down for bed when there was a knock at the door.

It wasn't completely unusual for Morelli to drop by around this time but I knew for a fact he was on the job tonight. So being the paranoid woman I am, I decided to look through the peep hole before pulling open my door. Through the fish eye view it was easy to recognize Celia's "don't argue with me" face. With a deep sigh I pulled open the door and there she stood, hands on her hips, staring back at me.

"Well well well… look who it is. I was kinda starting to think you left the country or something, since you won't answer me or return my calls."

"I am sure you probably hate me for being so flaky lately!"

"Stephanie, you know I can't hate you; but we definitely need to talk. Can I come in?" I nodded; stepping aside to let her walk in, she sat down on my couch. I followed her and noticed her stern face soften as she took in my hesitation.

"I know what happened, Steph." I of course chose the route of playing innocent.

"What do you mean?"

Celia rolled her eyes and smiled at me. "Between you and Les."

"How?"

"How else," She shrugged. "My brother came over and started screaming at me for letting this happen, and not telling him right away."

"Oh." Damn—I had been counting on Ranger's male ego to keep him from saying this to anyone. My eyes darted around the room as I avoided her eye contact at all costs.

"Steph, why didn't you tell me?" The sympathy in her voice caught me off guard as I looked up at her.

"I was worried you'd be so mad at me. I know how much you wanted to see me get back together with Ranger, and just a couple days before he returns I do something like _this_."

"Sweets, I don't care who you're with. Of course I'd love to see you with my brother—if that's what _you_ want."

"Really?" I asked with hope that I didn't have to worry about hiding from Celia anymore.

"Of course! My brother was an absolute fool where you were concerned! That's not your fault and you certainly don't have to walk around on eggshells because of it!"

A giant sigh escaped and I threw my arms around Celia. It felt good to have this weight off my chest and have my friend back.

"Now, anyways—for the _real_ reason I came over!" Celia held out her left hand and on a very important finger a diamond ring sparkled and contrasted beautifully with her mocha skin tone. I grabbed hold of her hand and examined the ring at every angle.

"Hot damn, Celia! Now _that's_ a diamond ring! Congratulations!" We once again embraced in a hug.

"Now I can't stay too long because Marco is waiting outside for me, but I want you to be in my wedding. I would love for you to be my maid of honor but unfortunately when my sister Lacey got married she made me maid of honor and made me promise to do the same for her."

I smiled, slightly relieved. "That's okay, I'm sure I'd mess something up, but I would love to be one of your bridesmaids!"

She squealed and placed a kiss on my cheek. "Thanks Steph! I'll call you tomorrow and we'll schedule a time to get together for lunch or something!"

"I'd like that!"

After she left I curled up on my bed and couldn't help but think about marriage. This has always been a sore subject for me ever since my 15 minute failure of a marriage to the Dick. I have since managed to think of all the awful things associated to a man and woman agreeing to spend their lives together forever. But there were some nights, especially ones when Stella was with family; when I'd be eating dinner for one, going to bed alone, waking up alone. And that was when I truly felt lonely and realized having someone there for me wouldn't be so bad. But who?

For the longest time I always imagined it would be Morelli that I would spend forever with. But now for numerous reasons that isn't a possibility which I am actually okay with. Morelli has remained a wonderful friend to me and I wouldn't want to give that up, especially now. Then of course there is Ranger and just the fact that he is the father of my Stella Bee makes me think of him by my side. My heart has undoubtedly loved him for so long and I couldn't imagine never seeing him again. But Ranger isn't the marriage type; even if he promised me forever, could I really handle his life? Of course the everyday stuff I could, but what about if he got called away for a government assignment for months on end? Plus, he isn't one to talk a lot and I am known to talk _way_ too much. Would I really be able to handle Ranger's silence every single day? Or would his silence speak for itself and just his presence be enough for me?

And then of course there is Les—he's an amazing man, a great friend and wonderful to Stella. But until recently he was the biggest playboy and I never once thought of him as anything other than a friend. I know he says I'm different and wants to be together, but for how long? Until he gets bored with me and decides he'd rather go back to his old lifestyle? Not to mention that would once again be me coming between him and Ranger. If only there was some roadmap for my life where I could just see the choices I'm supposed to make. Making decisions is one of my worst qualities; when I'm at Tasty Pastry and I have to make a decision between two donuts—I get them both. In this situation, not only can I _not_ have both, I don't want to be that girl.

In the middle of thinking in circles about my current predicament I ended up falling asleep. Even in my dream though I couldn't escape the thought of marriage.

In a beautiful white dress and a gorgeous bouquet of flowers I walked down the aisle. At the altar stood Morelli, Ranger and Lester, all suited up in typical groom's wear and smiles on their faces. In unison all their hands reached out for me but my hand froze in midair as my eyes darted from the 3 amazing men standing in front of me. That was when the preacher spoke up:

_"So which one do you want, Stephanie?"_

_"Come on Cupcake, you know we were made for each other." Morelli said with a wink and an ever-growing smile._

_"You know I will never hurt you, Beautiful. I will always make you happy; make me the happiest man on the planet and marry me." _

_"I'll always protect you, Babe, and you in your own way have saved me too. I need you and I love you."_

_"Stephanie?" The preacher said again and I felt like the corset of my dress tightening, and my air flow being cut off._

_"You need to make a decision, Stephanie. Who do you want to spend forever with?"_

_"Forever is such a long time." I answered. _

The scene in front of me suddenly changed to a game show and the preacher was now a host. Morelli, Lester and Ranger stood behind an opened door and the audience was screaming out names of who to choose.

_"You have 30 seconds to make a choice Miss Plum." The audience started counting down and my eyes darted from one to the other._

_"I can't choose; I love them all."_

_"Eeeeeeeh!" The host yelled out imitating a buzzer sound. "I'm sorry but that is not an available answer. So now the doors will be shut forever on these three men. Say goodbye, Plum—You've lost your chance!" _

The three doors slowly started to close and I realized I was losing them all. My feet began moving to stop the doors from closing, but they felt cemented into the ground.

_"No! I know who I want! Don't take them away from me!"_

_"It is too late, Plum, you've lost them all now!" _

_"No!"_

I screamed after them but it did nothing to bring them back and no matter how fast I tried to run, I just couldn't catch them.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

My mother took Stella the next morning and I nearly bit her head off when she made a crack at my appearance. After my dream—no, nightmare—last night I maybe had about 2 hours of sleep total. Now I had bags under my eyes that would cost me extra baggage fees if I were going on an airplane right now. My hair was an untamable mess; so I pulled it into a loose side-braid. And my clothes in no way were going to win me any fashion awards. I had pulled on a pair of my light colored jeans that even though were tight fitting, had a few holes in the legs. I pulled on a black T-shirt and threw on a gray hoodie over that, to me I was good to go. My mother on the other hand just about had a heart attack when she saw my appearance.

Once I escaped my mother's place I went straight to the bakery, got a few donuts and a jumbo coffee before reviewing my skips for the day.

By noon not only was I starving but I was even more pissed off since I had yet to find an FTA. I decided to give it one more go before giving up for the day to go sulk, and I partly picked this guy because it says everyday he goes to the same rinky-dink pizza place for lunch. The guy's name is Jackson Burrows, 33, and bonus—didn't have any charges of domestic.

When I got there I spotted Jackson right away; he sat at a booth in the corner, reading a newspaper while taking a bite of the breadstick in front of him. I couldn't deny this guy was attractive; great face, dirty blonde hair and even from here it was obvious he had a nice body. Maybe I should have rethought the homeless look today, I may have been able to use my looks for something other than scaring off all men—as my mother claimed.

I walked up to the side of his table and became slightly annoyed when he didn't look up from his paper.

"Jackson Burrows?"

"Yeah?" He asked, turning the page of his paper.

"I work for your bonds agent; you missed your court appearance."

"Something came up." Jackson answered as he looked up to meet my eyes. The intensity of his blue eyes made me forget my name for a minute before I remembered what I was doing.

"Well, I'll take you to the police station so you can get a new court date."

Jackson's lips turned up a bit at the corner as he took in my appearance. "I'm a little busy."

"Yeah well, you know what—I don't really care. I've had a long day and I just want to go home. But I won't do that until I have turned you over to the police."

Jackson followed up his paper and laid it down on the seat next to him. "Have you had lunch? There's some pizza left here that I can't possibly finish."

"What?" He smirked again and motioned to the half-eaten pizza with numerous toppings.

"I would rather not waste half a pizza while I sit around the police station and wait to get bonded out again."

"Is this some kind of a trick?"

"Nope, please sit." So I sat and grabbed a pizza of piece of pizza and took an enormous bite. Even if this was some kind of trick, I would at least get something to eat out of this thing. Jackson continued to eat his breadstick and watched me inhale my piece of pizza with an amused expression.

"Have another one, please."

While I was mid chew, Jackson ordered a coke for me and had his own drink refilled.

"What'd you say your name was?"

"Stephanie Plum."

"As in, Vincent Plum—are you his….?" Jackson hesitated at the end allowing me to fill in the end.

"Not his wife; cousin actually."

Jackson chuckled. "My condolences."

I smiled. "Thank you, I appreciate that."

"Did he rope you into working for his company?"

Before answering a downed a large gulp of the ice-cold coke. "Nah, well I mean when I first started I sorta took advantage of the family status so he had to give me the job. Then he fired me but later asked me to come back, I just happen to enjoy this job. Crazy as that may sound."

"Why'd he fire you?"

"Long story." I'd rather not get into my over-protective baby's daddy right now.

"I'll bet." He said with a smile.

"This pizza is amazing by the way."

"I know, that's why I come here everyday for lunch."

"Yeah, but that's also how I tracked you down. Not too hard to apprehend someone when you have the same schedule."

Jackson shrugged. "I have no reason to hide. I was arrested because I was carrying without a permit, like half of Jersey. I planned to go to my court appearance but the night before my court date I received a call from my 80 year old grandmother. She was in the hospital because she fell in her home and needed me to be with her. I've always been close with her, so I spent the night by her side while she was in pain and the next day when she had hip surgery. So I was a little too busy to remember something so pointless to me as this court date."

"I'm sorry to hear about your Grandma."

"She's alright; that woman is the strongest one I've ever met. But I also wasn't about leave her hanging when she needed me."

"I can't say I blame you." I took another sip of my soda and watched as Jackson's face seemed to be contemplating something.

"I'll make you a deal. I'll let you bring me in right now with no fuss, if you go on a date with me when I get out."

"What?" I waited for him to say he was kidding.

"You are very attractive, but I'd rather not go into the police station today. So if you make it worth my while by agreeing to go to dinner with me, I'll go."

"I have a kid." I blurted out; I suppose I assumed for him to retract and say _nevermind_.

Instead he shrugged his shoulders and didn't back down. "And I'll bet she's a sweetheart. So what do you say, Stephanie? You join me for dinner one night—my treat—and I'll let you take me in."

I thought about it for a minute. "And if I say no?" I eventually asked.

He shrugged again. "Then I'm going to make it one hell of a fight for you to apprehend me."

Okay, here's the thing, I'm used to a struggle to get my FTA but I was just too damn tired to do deal with that today.

"What the hell, fine—I'll go to dinner with you."

"Fantastic." Jackson stood up and threw some cash on the table and held out his hand to me. I sighed before grabbing it; hoping I wasn't about to get myself into another crappy situation.

He followed me out to my car and after opening my door to let me in, actually walked around and sat down into the passenger's seat. I kept waiting for him to jump out or attack me, but he never did.

At one point Jackson asked for my cell phone number and before I realized it, I was giving him my number. Like I _really_ needed another guy calling me; but I wasn't going to back down on a deal. If he was going to cooperate and make my life a tad easier, the least I could do was go to dinner. Especially since he was the one paying.

I turned him over and received my body receipt. I opened the door to go back out to the parking lot but before I could walk out, Jackson called out to me.

"I'll call you in a little bit about that date, Stephanie." I smiled to him as he winked.

"Sounds good." He was pulled out of my line of sight and when I turned back towards the open door I smacked into something solid. I stumbled backward but was steadied by a firm hand—Ranger's hand to be exact.

Even with his hand on me, his eyes were narrowed at the spot where Jackson just was.

"Friend of yours?"

"He was an FTA."

"You're supposed to turn them over to the police, not date them."

"This isn't your business, Ranger."

"Sure as hell is." He said still staring past me.

"No it isn't!"

"Who is this guy?"

"Jackson Burrows. Not that it's any of your business but he agreed to come in without a fuss if I agreed to dinner. Since I'm tired and not in the mood to roll around in garbage today, I agreed."

Ranger slightly shook his head and finally looked down to meet my eyes.

"I don't like this."

"You don't like what?"

"That you're not mine." I sighed, this was the _last thing_ I wanted to talk about right now.

"Can we please not do this right now, Ranger?"

"So I can't take you out—but some random FTA can?" For a split second he actually seemed hurt.

"It's nothing; he probably won't even call."

Ranger reached his hand out and stroked the side of my face.

"I can't wait for the day you let me back into your heart, Babe."

"Well, it's not today, I'm sorry but I need to go."

I was damn proud of myself for having the last word—even if it took more strength than I realized I had.

**A/N: The next update will be Chapter Eleven of Decisions Decisions.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** **JE's characters—My version**

**A/N:** Once again thank you for your patience and unfailing support. You all have no idea how grateful I am for you all and your wonderful reviews. It absolutely makes me feel wonderful! Thank you and enjoy!

Chapter Eleven

Stella sat in the middle of a bunch of puzzles all with their pieces taken out. I was lying on my stomach using my arms to hold me up as I tried to help her put them back together. Not that this was a huge success since anytime I put a piece in the correct place, it was immediately removed and put in another puzzle. This had been our routine for the past half hour and I was surprised she was still interested in the same thing. Usually nothing kept Stella's attention for longer than a few minutes before she switched what she was doing. But I had to admit; just being here with my Stella Bee was all I wanted to do.

Stella held up one of the pieces that went to her barnyard puzzle for me to see. "That's a horsey. Can you say, horsey?"

She managed to say "Oe." But I was still proud as could be.

"Good job, Stella Bee!" There was a soft knock on the door, but I was too comfortable to get up and see who it was.

"Come in, it's open!" I called to the closed door. I strained myself to turn in time to see Ranger open the door and stare down at me with a slight look of disappointment.

"Not smart, Babe. You have a habit of attracting the crazies."

"Are you referring to yourself in this situation?"

"I wouldn't say crazy."

Ranger's eyes slowly scanned me from my head over my back and my butt down my legs; a smile touched his lips. There was a hint of arousal in his eyes; I decided it was probably better to not lie down on the ground right now. I hoisted myself off the ground and crossed my arms over my chest, squared off across the room from him.

Thankfully things couldn't get too awkward with Stella around. She immediately scrambled to her feet and walked towards Ranger with a smile on her face and arms out waiting for him.

"Da da." She chanted and I couldn't help but soften as Ranger let out a smile that was more natural than anything I've seen before. He lifted her without effort into his arms and nuzzled her neck, making her let out a fit of giggles.

"What are you doing here? If you don't mind me asking." Ranger didn't answer for a couple minutes while he continued cuddling Stella in his arms.

I stood watching in a trance at the sight in front of me. The way Ranger held and played with his daughter made the hard exterior that was always in place slowly fade away. No longer did I see him as the hard core bounty hunter that had an exterior that resembled the Terminator. But this was a different guy entirely. For a man that never wanted to be a family man and didn't want kids—this moment was proving to be different. After a few more moments of my zoning out I backed off and remembered that I'm supposed to be mad at this man. I'm not willing to just completely forget all wrong because right now Ranger decides it's okay for him to be the guy for me.

It is going to take more than this to be let back into my heart again. "Ranger?"

"I just came over here to spend some time with my daughter."

"Didn't want to call first and ask?"

Ranger set Stella down and she scurried back over to her puzzles. "I was in the neighborhood anyways."

"So?" While a part of me said; his answer makes sense and he has a right to see his daughter. The other part of me of course wasn't ready to let him in again. Typical guarded Stephanie, but oh well.

"Is this an issue?"

"When most people co-parent they don't just drop in on the other. They typically call and set something up. I mean do you just drop in on Rachel?" There was a hint of annoyance at the mention of Rachel's name before the stoic face of Ranger was replaced.

"Did you have other plans that I am interrupting?"

"That isn't the point." I retorted.

"Then what am I missing? You have told me before I can see my child. I am here to see my child. I was in the neighborhood so I can came by. You weren't busy doing anything other than playing with our child. So tell me Stephanie, what am I doing wrong?"

I knew I really didn't have a good excuse and I suppose he wasn't in the wrong. It was more me never wanting to back away from an argument.

"It's fine, you're here now—so play with Stella."

"Okay then." Ranger unclipped his Batman type belt that had his cuffs, gun, and many other tools to take down his guy, and set it down out of Stella's reach. Just as he was about to take a seat on the floor with her, my phone rang. Instead of sitting down like originally planned; he straightened out and stared at me and watched me look at my phone.

The number wasn't one I recognized but I figured I'd answer it anyway.

"Hello?"

"Is this Stephanie?" A man's voice asked.

"Yeah it is who's this?"

"Jackson Burrows, remember, you took me to jail today?" I couldn't help but let out a laugh and my face broke into an unexpected smile.

"I do remember; so how was the big house?" My eyes shot up in time and I saw Ranger's eyes narrow at my sudden flirtatious behavior.

"Always a great time; saw some guy come in about 2 minutes after I entered that has probably been drunk the past week straight. He just kept yelling incoherent things and smelt like piss."

"At least it makes for a good story." I answered with a smile and noticed as Ranger took a few steps towards me. "Hold on a sec." I put my hand over the earpiece of the phone.

"Play with Stella; I'll be right back." Ranger looked like he was going to snatch the phone out of my hand and chuck it at the wall. Before he could though, I headed off into my bedroom.

"Sorry about that." I said when I was in the silence of my room.

"No problem, I am just washing my hands again since I seriously can't get rid of this icky jail feeling."

"Are you trying to make me feel bad for doing my job?" My smile continued to grow as we talked and I didn't really understand why.

He laughed into the phone before continuing. "No darling, don't worry about that. I was calling though to see if you are free to go to dinner with me tomorrow night."

Before I could answer the floor creaked by my bedroom door and I turned to see Ranger standing there. It was clear by the look on his face that he was _not_ happy by my conversation right now.

"Babe." I could tell by his tone it was a warning not to push his patience tonight. Not that this was going to stop me.

"Tomorrow night sounds great for dinner." I stared directly in Ranger's fuming face as I answered Jackson's question.

"That's great. Is it okay if I pick you up at 6 or so?"

"6 sounds just fine."

"Okay." I could hear the smile in Jackson's voice over the phone. "I'll give you a call tomorrow and you can tell me where I can pick you up then."

"Oh well I can meet you somewhere."

"No no—if I take women on dates I do it right. I'll pick you up."

"Alright well I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Have a good night."

I was tempted to answer 'not likely' by the way Ranger's eyes narrowed at me but I decided to refrain. But the second I ended the call Ranger crossed the room and pushed me against the wall. Our faces were inches apart and I tried to ignore the way the heat swirled around in my body. I tried to remain composed as he pressed his body into mine with his hands on the wall on either side of my face.

"Why are you doing this, Stephanie?"

"Doing what?" My voice shook as I tried to remain unaffected by our proximity.

"Going on a date with this guy."

"I told you—it was part of the deal. He went into jail without fighting me and I would go to dinner with him."

"Don't do this, Babe." I expected the wrath of Ranger; instead it looked as though he was pleading with me. His eyes darkened as he moved his face closer, so our foreheads rested together.

"It's just dinner."

"It's not."

His body softened to form to mine as he watched my face. I made the mistake of drawing my eyes away from his and looking down at those luscious lips of his.

"I want you." Ranger whispered out as his lips pressed lightly against mine. Next thing I knew the soft peck had become a fierce and passionate kiss. His lips moved against mine and before I could realize it—mine were moving with his. Ranger's hands left the wall and moved to my waist to pull me closer into him. My hands which had been safely at the side of my body were now spread against his chest. Feeling him. Tasting him. His hands were now under my shirt as he grabbed at my warm bare skin, unable to get enough.

Nothing about his body was soft anymore and that fact made parts of my body scream out for him. Then the sound of Stella's giggle from the other room snapped me out of the moment.

My hands were still on his chest so I shoved hard against him and pushed him away from me. Ranger's dark eyes stared at me in confusion. I hated myself because I could see now that he thought once again that he had me.

"Damnit Ranger."

"Ba…" He started but I threw my hand up to cut him out.

"Just get out." My arms crossed over my chest but I couldn't look him in the face. I was so ashamed that I let Ranger break through my barrier again. Why couldn't I stand up to him and not let my traitorous body fall under his spell once more. After a couple beats of silence Ranger turned and left. I heard him say goodbye to Stella and the door opening and closing again before I let myself walk out there. I couldn't face him right now. I didn't even want to face _me_ right now.

Stella was now flipping through pages of her little books when I saw her. I plopped down next to her and pulled her into my arms. I knew for a fact that just being close to my girl would cure any of the sadness I was feeling now—she always did.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

Ranger's POV:

Since squealing the Porsche out of Steph's parking lot, I don't think I had released the gas once. Stephanie had an effect over me that no woman before has. I knew it was risky to kiss her again but the magnetism between us was too much for me to ignore. I needed this woman in my life and listening to her accept a date with another man was killing me. I heard the excuse for why she accepted him but that didn't explain the giddiness in her voice as she talked to him.

Jackson Burrows. The second I returned to Haywood I was going to look this punk up. If there is any dirt on him I will find it, and make his life a living hell until he leaves _my_ Babe alone. My hands continued to squeeze the steering wheel until my knuckles were white. But I knew there was no point trying to get myself to calm down right now.

Leaving Stephanie when I did will always be something I regret, especially if that means I will lose her forever because of it. For so long she put up with the person I was and all I was able to offer. I never once realized just how much that mattered and just how big of a jackass I had been. Why didn't I marry her when I had the chance? Why is it that I didn't realize until she was no longer mine that I lost the most important part of my life? Running was the move of a coward but now I planned to fight for the one I love. No one can love Stephanie the way I can, and I intend to prove it.

Before I knew it I was pulling into the underground garage of Haywood. Just as I was about to pull into my spot, the elevator doors opened and Santos stepped out. My backstabbing cousin was lucky that I didn't knock his ass out every time I saw him. If there is one thing I know about him though, he too is a fighter. And right now my mood is so on edge that I may as well share it with this prick. There's no way he'd take the news of Stephanie having a date very well.

I stepped around the back of the Porsche and Santos stopped, squaring off in front of me. Both of us were ready to pounce at the slightest hint of a fight and while that would make me feel better right now, it was counter-productive. I raked my brain to come up with the best way to hurt him here. At every opportunity I wanted him to hurt and feel the way I felt when I found out what he did.

"Seen Stephanie lately?" I hissed out; his arms crossed over his chest as his eyes darkened.

"What's it to you?" Lester's voice was cold and I only prayed he gave me the satisfaction of seeing the way my words would hurt him. Not many could hide their emotions the way I could, but that didn't mean they were an open book by any means either.

"Well whatever you're doing to win her over has obviously been a failure."

An obnoxious snort escaped his ego-inflated head. "What makes you say that, _cuz_?"

"She's traded your ass in for another man."

"You?" He asked with a dubious expression.

"Nope."

"Who then?"

"Some guy, I was there visiting my kid when he called her. They're going out tomorrow night." There was hurt and frustration clouding his vision, and it was easy to see.

"She wouldn't do that." Santos sounded more like he was trying to reassure himself than me.

"Oh yeah, just the way she wasn't ending up in my bed when she was dating Morelli?" I saw the color clearly drain from him face. It took everything to hide away the encroaching smirk from my lips.

"Face it Santos, she's moved on. You're old news. I, at least will always have a place in her life as Stella's father. It's too bad you didn't knock her up when you were fucking her. Since you'll never get the chance again."

The line of his jaw tightened, and his fists clenched tight at his sides. "Keep smacking your lips, Manoso. You don't know anything about her and I, but I promise if you say one more goddamn thing I won't hesitate to beat your selfish ass into this fucking pavement."

"I've said what I needed to." I walked past his stone still posture and when I reached the door to the stairs I heard him let out enough obscenities that a sailor would be proud of.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

Stephanie's POV

It was now only 9:00 and Stella's been sleeping for about half an hour and I was already bored. I wasn't tired enough to go to bed and truthfully, after Ranger's kiss just hours before, I could barely sit still. My body was still surging with adrenaline and I didn't quite understand why. I mean it hasn't been _that_ long since I experienced a good time in bed and I've definitely had longer dry spells. I suppose it is more to do with the fact that I have a couple amazing men in my life that I can't choose between. Again.

I needed to do something and I was still far too wide-eyed to go to bed. I scrolled through my contacts in my phonebook and stopped at Morelli's name.

**Come over. I'm bored. Bring food and/or beer. **

I smiled at the text after I sent it. Having Morelli in my life was one thing I never wanted to change. But after everything I put him through I was so thankful I hadn't lost him completely. Anytime I let myself think of my current predicament with the men in black; I didn't know how I was ever going to truly have them both in my life.

I couldn't see them ever forgiving each other, or being the same way around me still. With Morelli it was different; we've been friends since birth pretty much. It was hard to think of _anything_ that could actually tear the two of us apart for good. I just couldn't say the same for Ranger and Lester. My phone buzzed with a text response with Morelli that pulled me out of my thoughts.

**Bossy. But okay, be there in 15 or so.**

**Don't forget the food/beer!**

There, at least I'd be able to just kick back and relax tonight now.

Knock…. Knock….. Knock….

I looked from the door down to my phone. Did he mean 15 seconds, not minutes? When I pulled open the door I felt my heart start beating like it was about to break through my chest, it was Lester. Something wasn't right, my fun and careful Les was replaced with this statue-like person. With a face as unreadable as Ranger's.

"Everything okay, Les?"

"Can I come in?"

"Of course." I stepped back and he let himself in and started pacing around the living room. Okay—so he wasn't exactly like Ranger, I think the day Ranger starts pacing, is the day pigs start flying.

"What's wrong?"

"Are you seriously going out with someone else, Stephanie?"

"What?"

"I'm sitting over here going crazy without you. I'm trying to give you your space and not be too needy but goddamn. This is killing me, Steph. Never in my life have I _ever_ met a woman I wanted more than you. And I have to find out from my damn cousin that you've moved on!" My jaw dropped to the floor. Since when did Ranger run around sharing any information, _especially _with Lester of all people?

"I'm not dating anyone else."

"So Ranger didn't hear you accept a date for tomorrow night?" I rolled my eyes—I'm gonna kill that guy next time I see him.

"It was part of this deal, Les. He doesn't mean anything, and it's just dinner." Lester pulled his brows together and stopped pacing. I felt my heart drop in my stomach as I realized how hurt Lester was right now.

"Do you have any idea what I'd do to just take you to dinner, Steph?"

"Les." I whispered out, heartbroken that I was hurting him like this. My arms reached out for him and pulled him into me for a hug. My hands pressed into his shoulder blades as I pulled him closer. Lester's hands reached down to frame my face and before I knew what was happening, his lips were on mine.

But there was something about the way the moment his lips pressed against mine that always shocked me. When Ranger kissed me I always sat in shock for a few moments before I responded; with Lester my lips had a mind of their own and craved his touch.

The more I kissed him—the more I wanted. Lester must have felt the same way because he moved his hands down my torso pulling me closer into him as the kiss deepened. Next thing I knew his hands were firmly cupping my ass and lifting me off the ground. That little voice in my head said, _stop this right now_, but my legs didn't get the memo. I wrapped them firmly around his waist as he walked towards my bedroom.

Without bothering to close the door or worry about anything else we landed on my bed. We only lost contact with our lips as his mouth moved down my neck and to my stomach as he moved my pesky shirt out of his way. The desire shooting out of both of us was so strong we couldn't catch our breath. Lester moved his mouth back to mine as his delicious weight rested down on top of me.

"You're everything to me, Stephanie." Before I could respond his phone went off, and he swore, letting his head drop against my chest.

"I'm on call, I gotta take this."

"Okay." I said, trying to catch my breath still.

Lester flipped his phone open and listened for a beat before shutting it. He sat up and pulled me up with him.

"I have to go unfortunately."

"Okay." I lamely repeated. Lester's mouth curved up into a smirk before placing one more kiss against my lips.

"Let's finish this later, okay?" He asked with a smirk.

"Ah huh." Lester flipped on the light for me before he left the room.

My hands covered my eyes and I fell back against the bed. What the _hell _was my problem?!

A few seconds later the sound of someone laughing startled me. When I looked up I saw Morelli standing in the doorway watching me.

"I swear to God if you kiss me tonight Morelli, I'm gonna sock you in the stomach." There was no way I could handle one more guy surprising me with a delicious mouth. A girl can only take so much.

Morelli laughed and jerked his thumb back the way Les had just left from.

"It looks to me like you got your hands full as it is, Cupcake."

I sighed and felt myself pout. "You better have beer."

He laughed once again. "Cupcake, you need something stronger to cure this problem."

**A/N: Next chapter will be in Somewhere in the Middle. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** **JE's Characters—My Version.**

**Author's Note:** Once again, sorry for my lack of posting! I promise though that no matter what these stories will be finished! And I absolutely appreciate your patience with me during my slow periods! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday for those of my readers in the United States =D

Chapter Twelve

"You almost ready, Steph? He's going to be here any minute!" Celia yelled to me from the living room.

"Yeah, yeah—I'm almost done!"

Jackson Burrows was on his way for our date, well sort of. More of a payback for not making me chase him down and roll in garbage to bring him in. Ranger and Lester had been calling me all day but I decided it was better to ignore them. I'm sure I would later be paying the price for this, but oh well. During the obnoxious phone calls from the Men in Black came a call from Celia. I told her about my date with Burrows and she just about jumped for joy with excitement. She came over immediately to watch my Stella Bee and help me get ready. Even when I told her that this date was not a _date_, she lost no excitement.

As Celia put it though, she was more excited to see the jealous acts of her family members. That was one show she wanted a front row ticket for.

The buzzer went off, signaling Burrows' arrival. I swiped one more layer of mascara on before taking a look in the mirror to examine my look. My long curly hair was tamed and hung past my shoulders with my special gel to make it shine. My blue eyes popped out with the black of mascara and eyeliner surrounding it. I look a step back and examined my tight fitting baby blue scoop neck dress. It has always been one of my favorites but I usually have no occasion to get so dressed up. So I paired that with some heels and gave myself a nod of approval before leaving the bathroom.

"God Steph, I'd kill to be able to wear a dress like that! You look hot, mama!" Celia said with a smile. Stella squirmed out of her arms and ran up to me and wrapped her arms around my legs.

"You have fun with Aunty tonight, Bee. I love you."

"Wuv ou!"

"Can Mama have a kiss goodbye?" Stella placed a kiss on my cheek and I gave her one.

"Okay, wish me luck!" I said slinging my purse over my shoulder.

"Good luck! I want a **full** report when you get home!"

I turned before leaving and smiled. "You can count on it!"

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

**_*Ranger's POV*_**

During my over-extensive search on Jackson Burrows absolutely _nothing _came up. Besides the one time he was arrested for carrying concealed. I don't think I have ever been more frustrated in all my career. I was counting on this guy being some sort of scumbag so I had a legitimate excuse for beating this guy to a pulp. Now though, if I laid a single hand on this guy without good reason, my Babe would never talk to me again.

So here I sat, in my all black-extra tinted SUV trying really hard to convince myself _not_ to follow them on their date. The only thing I could think to do about Burrows was to put a tracking device on his car. The screen on my dash indicated this fucker was just pulling into Stephanie's apartment. My eyes were focused on the blinking dot, but the knocking on the passenger window pulled my attention away.

Lester stood at the window with his eyebrows pulled together in frustration. Before I could come up with anything to say to get him to leave, he opened the door and entered the car.

"Where is he?" Lester asked, looking down at the tracking screen.

"What are you talking about?"

He shot me a dubious expression before looking down at the screen again. "I know you're tracking him. Let's go, they're going to leave her house any minute."

"Are you serious?"

We both eyed each other down and I realized in that moment just how serious he was. Not only that, but I realized just how much my Babe meant to him. The idea of her dating another had gotten under his skin just as it had mine. I didn't know whether to be pleased by knowing he would always protect her. Or pissed that I would always be dealing with Santos when it came to my family. Stephanie would always be mine as far as I was concerned. But I made an extreme mistake where Estella was concerned. I left my women when I was most needed. All because I didn't like knowing I needed them too.

Without a doubt I knew I could get Santos out of my car. But if I somehow got caught doing this, might as well take him down with me.

"You make one dumbass comment and I'll make your ass walk from wherever we are."

"Fine, not quit talking and follow them."

I held back the sigh as I thought about the consequences of this night, but still drove off towards the blinking dot.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

"Okay so that is like the third time you've yawned in the last 3 minutes I've been in the car. I'm starting to get offended." I said as Jackson drove us to the first stop on our date. Mid-yawn he let out a laugh and shook his head.

"I absolutely promise it's not you. My Grandma hasn't been doing well lately so I've been with her whenever I'm not working. So between worrying about her and work, if I do get time to sleep, I have too much on my mind to actually recuperate."

"That must be hard, I'm sorry. You know you really don't have to take me out tonight. I won't be mad if you want to go home and go get some sleep or something." Jackson's head was shaking before I even finished what I was saying.

"Absolutely not! I've actually been looking forward to tonight." He turned to face me and shot me a smile. Jackson was hands-down, an attractive guy but the last thing I wanted was one more person I was going to eventually hurt.

"I just need to wake up a little bit first!" Jackson added as he flipped one of my curls behind my shoulder so he could see my face better.

"Well, I happen to know somewhere that we can get a pretty amazing cup of coffee."

"You don't say." I felt myself flirting and tried to keep it in check.

Jackson followed my directions to Tasty Pastry but when he put the car in park I grabbed his arm before he could get out.

"Listen, I want to make something clear right now." He watched me with curiosity as I tried to find the words.

After waiting a few minutes in silence he spoke again. "I'm listening."

"No matter how great this date tonight might be—that's as far as it's going to go." A corner of his mouth turned slightly up, and I continued.

"It's not that you aren't good looking or anything, it's just I am sorta in the middle of something."

Jackson smiled and ran his hand down the side of my face.

"That doesn't surprise me, Stephanie. This is just a night to have a good night. A little escape from everyday realities, especially since my every day is very serious."

It made me feel a little guilty that I had yet to think about that. From the sounds of it, we could both use a night to just let loose and forget all responsibility. That sounded like exactly what I needed right now. I hated that all the people I was closest with in my life wanted things to change. It wasn't that I didn't want to stop this seeing different people lifestyle—it might actually be fun to settle down.

To come home and have someone there to greet me and my Stella Bee. Someone who was there to laugh with me, lay with me, and just be there with me. The only problem is when I am with one of them I feel like one person. And the person I feel like seems so natural I can hardly believe I am questioning it. Then when I'm with the other—the person I become fits too. So how am I supposed to know what I'm supposed to do? How can I choose one and break the other's heart. Because everything else aside—these guys mean so much to me. And I would never want to hurt either of them, it's just not who I am.

Jackson sat waiting for me to decide whether or not it was okay for us to continue this night. So with a smile I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I think that sounds great. A little escape sounds perfect right now." Jackson smiled back a moved a piece of hair behind my ear.

"Good—then how about that coffee!" For a moment the foot of space between us seemed to fill with the sudden tension of our proximity. His eyes flickered down to my lips.

A horn honking in the distance made us both jump apart. The moment was over—Thank God. We both got out of the car and when we met up on the sidewalk I shot a glance behind us. In the distance was the unmistakable all black SUV with the outline of two guys that were caught in the act of spying on me.

"Everything okay, Steph?"

"Oh yeah, just fine. Let's go."

We made our way into Tasty Pastry and ordered our coffee. I of course decided just one donut would be okay to get. Jackson sipped at his coffee and oogled at the array of pastries that were displayed in the cases. The bell on the door chimed when someone else entered the bakery.

"Jeez Cupcake, got all dressed up to come and get some donuts?" I turned and saw Morelli walk over to me with a smile on his face. His eyes traveled up and down the length of my form fitting dress and down my long legs.

"If you didn't have two borderline scary guys sitting in the SUV outside watching your every move I might have to whisk you away right now." I rolled my eyes and smacked his arm.

"Are they still out there?"

"You know they're there?"

"I saw them before we came in here."

"We?" He asked with the raise of an eyebrow.

"We." Jackson said as he came up behind me and a hand on my shoulder, his other was extended out towards Morelli. "Jackson Burrows."

Joe's eyes shifted from Jackson to me before reaching his hand out to shake Jackson's. "Joseph Morelli."

"Yeah, I know. You're a cop right?"

"Sure am." Morelli said it in a way that I knew to be a warning to Burrows not to screw around where I was concerned.

"Morelli, I told you about Jackson. He did me a favor so I agreed to a date."

"That explains the chaperones."

I blew out an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, can't you do something about that?"

"Something like what?" Joe asked with his hands on his hips.

"I don't know—you're a cop! Help me out here, please!"

"I'll take care of it."

"Thanks, I owe you!" Morelli flashed me a smile and didn't even try to hide the scowl on his face when looking at Jackson. Joe walked up to the bakery counter so I decided now as good a time as any to head out.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo OoOoOoOoO**

**_*Ranger's POV*_**

"What do you think they're doing just sitting in his car?" Santos asked once again. I remained silent, watching the car for any slight movement that would send me out of my seat and headed in their direction.

"If they don't move in the next few minutes I am honking the horn again." Santos said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You said you'd be quiet."

"How the hell are you so calm about this!" His arms started flailing around. I watched out of the corner of my eye, not wanting to give him my full attention. That didn't stop him from continuing.

"I mean hell, you started throwing punches at me when you found out about the two of us!"

"You deserved it."

"Oh yeah—how do you figure that?"

Santos knew how to get under my skin like no one else. And since we are unfortunately blood related he always thought that gave him the right to push me. So when most people asked a question like this—I wouldn't think twice about answering. Since it was Lester though, I couldn't bite my tongue.

"First of all, you knew how I felt about her. Secondly, you're my damn cousin. I never expected her to sit around and wait for me but to know it was my cousin that pulled the rug from under my feet is what pissed me off."

"You act like I went for her _because_ she was at _one point_ with you. Get over yourself Ranger. Stephanie is amazing."

"I know she is." I said through clenched teeth. A knock on Lester's windows made both of our heads turn to see who it was. Great—Morelli. Joe mouthed the words, '_open up_', and before I could stop Lester—he did. Morelli opened the backdoor and took a seat, despite my glaring stare at him.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked, trying to keep it together as best as possible. But now I was stuck in a car with the other two men in my Babe's life and this was the last thing I wanted.

"Cable's out—and something tells me I shouldn't miss something like this."

"No way—out."

"Shit Ranger, let him stay—Burrows is pulling out. If you keep whining like a baby we'll miss something." Santos added in; his eyes locked on the car pulling out of the parking lot.

I let my head drop against the steering wheel. After all these years I finally understood when Stephanie used the phrase—why me?

Reluctantly though I pulled out after them and followed the car. Morelli continued eating his donuts in the back, Lester wouldn't stop bitching about anything and everything. We followed them to a club that served dinner and had a floor for dancing. I watched Lester's body tense up and as we sat in the car looking in through one of the windows I realized this had to be one of the places those two came together.

That was the first time it actually hit me how mad I was. It wasn't just that they had one night shared a bed together. It was the way these two were sharing their lives. Lester became the guy Stephanie called when she wanted to go out or just didn't want to be alone. All this time since returned I've been trying to go back to the way things were. That role was taken now. I need to prove to her now that I'm someone she can't replace—someone she can't be without. If I want to ever have a chance as the only man in her life now.

"They're leaving!" Morelli and Santos said in sync as we all watched them exit the restaurant. God Stephanie looked good tonight. That girl always looks amazing but she looked especially good in that tight little dress. And that lucky bastard got to spend the entire night with her.

We took off once again and followed behind like the crazy stalkers we had all undoubtedly become. A wave of relief flooded over me when I realized he was taking her home now. While I should turn around and just drop Morelli and Santos off; I also wanted to make sure there was no little good night kiss.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

**_*Stephanie's POV*_**

We stood outside the main door to the apartment building. Both of us had the exact kind of night we had wanted to have—fun and carefree. It almost mad me a little sad I was just now meeting Jackson, not that I wanted him as a boyfriend. But maybe just as a friend to have nice little getaways with.

"I have to say, Steph—if it wasn't for the truck full of guys that loved you following us around all night—I wouldn't hesitate in asking for a second date." I couldn't help but smile.

"This was one of the best nights I've had in a long time."

"I had a great time too." I admitted.

"Do you think they'd let me live if I gave you a kiss on the cheek?"

"I'll have your back." Jackson smiled and leaned down and wrapped his arms around me and placed a kiss against my cheek.

"Good night Stephanie Plum; give me a call if all of them screw up and you need another night out."

"I promise." Jackson smiled and retreated back to his car. I stood and watched him leave, exchanging a wave as he pulled away. Then I turned my attention to the SUV parked in the distance.

I extended a finger towards them and motioned my finger for them to come here. For a moment there was no movement so I did it again. This time all three of the men I cared for piled out of the car and began walking towards me.

"I don't even want to know why you spent your night spying on me. I will tell you right now though; if you want to ever have me forgive you again—you will do what I say tonight."

All of them looked confused but nodded. I pointed towards my building door and waved my arm for them to go upstairs. Slowly, all of them shuffled up the stairs as I followed. We walked into my apartment and Celia perked up from her spot on the couch.

"I feel like I missed something." She said as her eyes shifted from Morelli to her brother then her cousin.

"I'll fill you in, but first I need to get these guys started on their chores. My apartment has been looking a little dirty lately." My face broke into a smile as the boys sighed and Celia burst into laughter.


End file.
